Infertility can be an isolating, stigmatized disease.

Maria Novotny, a Wauwatosa native, wants to put an end to that, and she is getting national attention for doing that through art.

Novotny knows first hand that bottling up the emotional toll of infertility doesn't help the grieving process. She was diagnosed with infertility in 2011.

During her journey, Novotny learned the importance of telling her own story, which has lead to personal healing, and kept her from feeling isolated.

The ART of Infertility is a traveling exhibit she helped create with Elizabeth Walker gave her the avenue to meet different people and understand their experiences and how they move forward. ART stands for Assisted Reproductive Technology. 

The exhibit is a national arts organization based in Michigan and Wisconsin. It was founded in 2014 and curates art exhibits to portray the realities, pains and joys of living with infertility.

It was such a success, it is getting national recognition.

Resolve: The National Infertility Association announced that The ART of Infertility is being awarded the Hope Award for Innovation for using art to break the silence around reproductive grief and fighting to make infertility more visible, according to a press release. 

Novotny will accept the award at Resolve's 21st Annual Night of Hope Gala on Nov.12, in New York City. As the organization that supports and provides a voice for all people challenged in their family-building journey, Resolve established the Hope Awards to recognize professionals, companies, volunteers, and the media who truly help those struggling to build a family, the organization explained in a statement. 

The traveling exhibit includes permanent pieces, but also includes work from local men and women who tell their stories of reproductive loss. Novotny said the loss could be due to a miscarriage, stillbirth or just by not being able to carry their own child.  
"This is a great way to raise awareness and helps educate others about what the experience is," she said. 

The impetus for ART began after Novotny met Walker, who was already an advocate for infertility awareness. Novotny noticed an overlap in how women were writing about their own infertility, but writing alone doesn't work for everyone. Walker proposed using art. 

Novotny wanted to blend and study how women and men use writing and art to represent infertility. 

"It is not an embodied disease; it is invisible, unlike pregnancy or other physical diseases," she said. 

Raising awareness 

Novotny said the exhibit is also used as a tool to help push legislation. 

Since the 1980s, 15 states have passed laws that require insurers to either cover or offer coverage for infertility diagnosis and treatment, according to National Conference of State Legislatures website. 

Recently, Delaware became the 16th state to require insurers to cover a list of infertility treatments. Wisconsin doesn't have a law that require insurers to either cover or offer coverage for infertility diagnosis and treatment.

The 16 states had strong advocacy groups and vocal proponents who discuss the financial and socio-cultural challenges. The exhibit helps change the narrative and brings an understanding that infertility is one type of disease that is not fully covered, according to Novotny. 
There is a push to make adoption less financially debilitating for those who don't want to build a family through biological methods. 

"We need to start talking about reproductive loss and changing laws so that adoption and fertility treatments are more accessible to all," Novotny said.

For her journey, Novotny has opted to not go through fertility treatments. She and her husband decided to go through adoption instead. They have been placed on a waiting family list and are waiting to be matched with birth parents.

Novotny said it was a healthy decision, because she started to think of how to resolve her infertility instead of fixing it. 

"This has given me more clarity," she said. 

Fertility issues also impact people who chose to be single parents and the LGBTQ community. Novotny said there needs to be better access to donor embryos, sperm and surrogacy. 

"Everyone has the right to build their family whatever way that looks like," Novotny said. 
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