These paintings are part of a
series inspired by a year-long
study of menstrual
superstitions. I am a
senior illustration student,
about to graduate from the
Massachusetts College of Art and
Design [in 2008], and the topic
of menstrual superstitions was
my senior thesis. I was
attracted to this subject almost
by chance, stumbling upon a few
web sites (including this one
[MUM]) that described a seemingly
endless flood of myths that
were arguably the most
shocking and insanely comical
beliefs I had ever read. Oddly
enough, I was told
that I was the only person
in the history of that class
that chose menstrual
superstitions. My study,
although endlessly
fascinating to me and many
of the women in my class,
was unfortunately met with long
uncomfortable silences in
the beginning, and I had a
difficult time getting
feedback from my colleagues. But, the more I
talked about it, the less
uncomfortable everyone
became. [That was
my experience when people
visited the museum in my house.] It was
interesting to see the
progress and change of both
my own work and the class's
involvement in it. What
began in silence, ended in
constant encouragement to
push the boundaries of what
to show visually - to be
more graphic, more
disturbing, more unflinching
in my statement.
The paintings themselves were
inspired by specific
superstitions, like the accounts
of "displaced bleeding," and the
Greek philosopher Pliny's remark
that fruit will rot and fall
from the trees upon encountering
a menstruating woman.
Most of the superstitions I was
most inspired by were ancient or
indigenous, but they are also
what I felt most contributed to
current taboos about
menstruation.
In this series of paintings, I
sought to confront the viewer
with both the repugnance of the
superstitions while still
maintaining a bit of beauty in
the figure. They are each 24" by
32", acrylic on wood. The first,
"The
Contaminated,"
was meant to show the human
reproductive organs of a
dismembered and faceless women,
as the pollution beliefs may
literally have imagined them to
be. The second: "To Bleed
Without Wound,"
juxtaposes stigmata with
menstruation, as both instances,
whether real or not, can be
broken down to the same thing
(bleeding without a wound) but
one is revered as godly, the
other as ungodly. And the
third,"Strange
Fruit,"
references superstitions about
how menstruation causes decay,
while also juxtaposing it to the
life-bearing torso of a pregnant
woman.