RESIST/THE URGE

Exhibition Dates: March 15 - April 12, 2026   
Opening Reception: March 15, 1-3pm

The Ely Center of Contemporary Art is pleased to present RESIST/THE URGE, an exhibition featuring work by artists from the Planned Parenthood Support Squad (PPSS). The opening reception will be held on Sunday, March 15, 1-3pm.

Founded in New Haven in March 2024, the Planned Parenthood Support Squad began as a grassroots effort to demonstrate community support for bodily autonomy and access to healthcare, while raising funds to help sustain healthcare providers such as Planned Parenthood of Southern New England. The group gathers weekly outside clinics to counter anti-abortion demonstrators who seek to shame patients and spread misinformation. Their approach is one of joyful resistance: dancing, music, handmade signs, and collective presence.

RESIST/THE URGE presents a visual timeline of the group’s growth and activism. The exhibition includes protest signs, artwork created for fundraisers, digital media used to spread awareness, and photographs documenting the Support Squad in action. Together, these materials reflect the creativity and energy that has fueled the group’s expanding community.

Protest signs and printed messages have long served as powerful tools for expressing beliefs, values, and collective missions. They offer a voice for those who may not otherwise feel able to speak publicly, allowing individuals to share their views through humor, urgency, poetry, imagery, or bold declarations. 

Through these forms of expression, RESIST/THE URGE highlights the ways everyday people can come together to build something larger than themselves. The exhibition underscores the importance of community solidarity while acknowledging that the struggle for bodily autonomy continues and that collective action remains vital.

This exhibition marks the first presentation in the Ely Center’s Project Space Gallery, a new initiative inviting artists and curators to submit exhibition proposals for consideration by the Ely Center’s Curatorial Advisory Committee. The space is intended to support experimentation, collaboration, and timely artistic responses to contemporary issues.

Carrissa Judd
Deborah Costanzo
Jaqueline Pagano
Jennifer Franson Hopper
LBDoodles
Olivia Piper