Philosopher Julia Kristeva introduced the idea of the “abject” to refer to things that induce a reaction of horror or disgust at the breakdown between the self and non-self—corpses, bodily waste, or other corporeal functions hidden from polite view. Abject art deals with these materials or ideas, often deliberately leading to a feeling of discomfort on the part of the viewer. Abject art has been a product of several distinct movements throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Associated with the Dada and Surrealist movements, Hans Bellmer created sculptures, photographs, and prints of grotesque formulations of the female body. These works served as a critique of the ideal body promoted by the Nazi regime.

Many feminist artists dealt with the idea of the abject in their work. Judy Chicago made menstruation the subject of her Red Flag (1971) and Menstruation Bathroom (1972), while Carolee Schneemann created provocative performance pieces such as Interior Scroll (1975), in which she read from a scroll while unraveling it from her vagina. Other artists have used human waste itself as a medium. In his controversial 1987 photograph Piss Christ, Andres Serrano showed a crucifix submerged in a container of urine. Perhaps more shocking, Mary Kelly’s Post-Partum Document of 1974 included her infant son’s soiled diapers. These artists have elicited reactions of shock and disgust to draw attention to the political causes their work seeks to further.