#1 August 10th, 2015 09:38 AM

artemesia

Member

Period Art

Periodically something inspires me to think about periods again. I thought if you all were interested we could post some links to periods here.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/n … 7475480183

^^The link above is what the original inspiration was to post

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre … st-defence

^^I'm prolly going to ask her on a date cause she is amazing

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/artic … ition.html

Why is this important to think about? Traditionally this is when women are at their most creative and also should take time to express themselves since for me at least ordinary tasks suddenly become a lot more difficult to perform. When I have my period, I'm forced to consider what am I producing in my life and for whom? Creating art with period blood is an important stage for a woman to free herself from the conceptions of 'unclean' that society tells a woman she is when she is bleeding.

What do you think?

sondrine

Member

Re: Period Art

Yes !! Good topic !

Firstly, that woman... WHAT A HERO. Partially because she's working to end yet another ridiculous stigma relating to female bodies. Partially because she ran 40ks with cramps ?! When I get cramps I crawl into my bed, assume fetal position and groaning into my hot water bottle "my uterus is being scraped with a rusty fork". High-fives to Miss Ghandi.

Secondly, I love activism through art, and the thing I love about these women here is how unapologetic they are. Kiran Ghandi said “I felt kind of like, Yeah! F--- you!,” she said. “I felt very empowered by that. I did.” Go girl ! And the two artworks are undeniably challenging of social views and voice self expression and empowerment, intended to raise questions to why menstruation is a taboo topic. Yet both pieves are presented in such beautiful, delicate ways, removing the gross and yucky ideas people have about periods. Growing up, my mother always taught my sister and I the importance of being discreet. "Keep tampons hidden in a little purse in your bag, don't soak blood stained undies in the family laundry, don't put used pads in the bin where a man might see..." I mean of course it's gross, mucousy blood flooding your panties being soaked up by wads of cotton... I can't say I love it... but it's no secret, it's no shame. It happens/has happened to 99% of the female population... why's it so hush hush ??

It's sad that things like periods and nipples need to have their own campaigns when they're natural, normal things ... next we'll be arguing the right to talk about poo in public... oh ladies... please.... have some decency.

Here's a cheeky tampon string featured in Steph_H's "Filoselle"