Guest Post by Diana Álvarez
Image from Cup of Flow by Diana Álvarez.
“Are you the girl who drank her period blood?” This was a frequent question I was asked during the 21st Biennial Conference of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research, held in June, 2015, at Suffolk University in Boston. I had the privilege of having my art work be a part of the art show Widening the Cycle, curated by Jen Lewis and held in conjunction with the conference. On display was my menstrual art project entitled Cup of Flow, which showed photographic depictions of me interacting with my period blood. The images included me wearing my own menstrual blood as lipstick, my cervix during menstruation—this one was made possible through the use of a speculum—and one highly sensational image of me drinking my period blood directly from my menstrual cup. My art project provided the catalyst for many rich conversations that I would have in Boston that weekend. For a conference that focuses specifically on the menstrual cycle, not nearly enough people were talking about blood. My project demonstrated to me that these folks were thirsty for blood.
I was fortunate to have been chosen to be one of the artists on the Widening the Cycle panel, which was held during the lunch hour on Friday. This medium afforded me the opportunity to address most of the conference attendants and speak openly about drinking my period blood. I began with an open discussion of my artistic process, and how creating the image in which I use the blood as lipstick prompted me to consider licking my lips and tasting the blood. I spoke about my hesitations with taking this seemingly drastic step. I mean sure, I might be the “period girl” in my Women’s Studies program and circle of friends, but that just meant I had a lot of information on the menstrual cycle and societal/cultural definitions of what all that entails. It did not mean that I was that comfortable with my own menstrual process, let alone my period blood. Then I considered a paper cut that still had my finger throbbing from earlier that day. And the way that I had immediately, almost as a reflex, put my bloody cut finger into my mouth. I considered how my feelings towards my menstrual blood demonstrated a colonization of my experience with my body. I pledged to decolonize my period. I drank my period blood.
Image from Cup of Flow art project by Diana Álvarez.
At the lunch panel I also announced that anyone who wanted the images from Cup of Flow was more than welcome to take them home with them and use them however they saw fit. I was humbled by how many conference attendants wanted to take my art home to do activist work with it, to create a dialogue, to be inspired by the blood. This made me realize how important seeing the blood is to the future of menstrual cycle research. Menstrual art that depicts actual period blood pushes the boundaries of what we are used to, it takes the menstrual metaphor away and instead bleeds with meaning. Often times in our scholarly conversations about menstruation, period blood itself becomes the absent referent. When we discuss the menstrual cycle we ourselves sometimes become guilty of a Cartesian mind/body dualism, where in which we concentrate heavily on things related to menstruation but not on menstruation itself. Here I am thinking of things like menstrual products, menstruation in the media, menstrual shame, however we are not addressing the power of the actual blood.
My art revolves around the blood. The blood just as it is. I do not use it as paint (although I do love this method*). I photograph it in both its utter mundaneness and absolute ephemeral brilliance. The reaction to my menstrual art work has inspired me to continue to make menstrual art and to understand that artscapes have the potential to create social change. It’s about bloody time.
* For menstrual artists who paint with their blood look at the work of Sadie Mohler and Stephanie Dragoon.
Diana Álvarez is a PhD student at Texas Woman’s University. Her dissertation focuses on menstruation in social media, menstrual art, and menstrual suppression. Her most recent piece, Cup of Flow, can be viewed at wideningthecycle.com.
