“Power” by Stephanie Dragoon

Stephanie Dragoon

Menstrual paintings challenge traditional conceptions of art. It is an invitation to see the value and depth of the body, to create meaning where mainstream discourse allocates shame or silence. This series incorporates statements from Bikini Kill’s Riot Grrrl Manifesto (1991) and personal pieces inspired by powerful women and period positivity.

“Hybrid I” by Suzy Gonzalez

Suzy Gonzalez

To consider menstrual blood an art medium is to acknowledge its natural pigmented elements. It is to praise the menstrual cycle as a means for creativity rather than anxiety. Human and animal bodily objects such as hair, feathers, and blood can be found in my work as an exploration of detachment. Once they’re separated from the being, these materials become purely object. Blood tends to represent outcomes of violence, yet there is tranquility involved in the release of menstruation. I am particularly captivated by the correlation of those beings who bleed cyclically and those who bleed forcefully. I hybridize fragments of humans, animals, and objects into impossible creatures who live in a world that knows no binary. Using the same palette amongst forms allows the dismembered limbs to form a newly birthed being.

“She’s Got the Painters In” by Suzy Gonzalez

Mary Rouncefield

These images all feature the use of watercolour which has been allowed to flow and take its own direction, with minimum intervention from myself. I felt that this was appropriate as menstruation is a natural process which takes its own course. Four of the images are framed in an enclosed ‘womb-like’ space, with random flows of paint and water encircling other elements. My least favourite image is ‘She’s Got The Painters In’; but it illustrates an expression from Northern England- which I myself have only ever heard said by men (usually with a snigger). I decided to ‘re-appropriate’ this expression by making the ‘painters’ female rather than male. In the other images I have tried to portray a more ‘dream-like’ state with more positive connotations. It annoys me that men generally tend to ridicule women experiencing menstruation – yet without that process, new life could not be generated. Image 4: ‘Duality’ represents both the ‘glamorous’ side of being a woman and the more uncomfortable processes of menstruation and child birth.

For more information, visit www.wideningthecycle.com. For questions, please email the curator and exhibit planner, Jen Lewis, at info [at] wideningthecycle [dot] com.