The Period Project

We Bleed.

This comes from a place of both pride and anger. Pride that as a woman, my body can create and harbour a human life, as shown in my menstrual cycle. Anger that as a woman, this amazing gift is ridiculed and stigmatised.

My Foundation Final Major Project looks at the stigma behind Menstruation and the way in which it could be challenged.  My aim for this project is to empower, to challenge the stigma and convert the embarrassment into pride. To give women the opportunity to shout 'HEY! I bleed as a sign that my body is preparing to keep the human race alive. Don't disrespect it. Its a sign of our survival'.  These photos explore the beauty in the blood and stains which make us women.

Periods are a pain, both metaphorically and physically and its something that ladies all over the world have to face on an average of 2640 days in their whole lifetime. WHAT? I know right *sounds of ovaries weeping in the distance*.

So thank goodness that there are no social, cultural or religious taboos and stigma surrounding it that we have to deal with, right?

Hahahaha, what a hilarious joke I made there. Nope, unfortunately since society decided that they would get upset about things that don’t actually concern them (#myuterus #mywomblining) women have been forced to hide in shame when on their ‘time of the month’ whilst they are ‘Surfing the Crimson wave’ or during ‘Shark Week’. Its ridiculous. In many cultures women are seperated from their villages, forbidden from going into places of worship and in some cases are not even allowed to eat in the same room as their families. Not only this but women in the Western world are also subjected to these ridiculous social taboos and stigmas. Forced to listen to comments such as ‘Oh you’re on the rag then?’, ‘`you know childbirth will be worse?’or to have their opinions disguarded because of the common belief that when you are bleeding from your vagina all of your opinions are invalid.

Its situations like this that have inspired my final Foundation Art project. I want to explore the stigma surrounding menstruation and to create work that challenges our thoughts and views on what should just be a normal and natural part of life. This tumblr page and this twitter account is a way for me to research, gather more opinions, share other like minded works and to show my work.

So thanks for stopping buy, give this page a follow, give it a share if ya’ fancy, let me know your opinions on all things period related (in the sense of menstruation, not in the sense of a historical time frame, I’ve made that mistake before) or just bob in every once in a while, maybe on a monthly occasion-wouldn’t that be appropriate?

Lets change the world, one monthly cycle at a time.