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If you create or own art
concerning menstruation or menopause and are
interested in showing it on thesepages (it's
free!), contact MUM
Marie Claire magazine
(Italian edition) featured several of the
above artists in an article
about this museum and menstruation in 2003.
The newspaper Corriere della Sera (Io Donna
magazine) (Milan, Italy) and the magazine
Dishy (Turkey) showed some of the artists in
2005 in articles about this museum.
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The Art of Menstruation at the Museum of
Menstruation and Women's Health
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"Kotex says Sorry is
intended to promote a positive
although surreal representation of
menstruation. The images were
painted originally and then
photographed and printed out in large
scale for exhibition purposes. The
style of the female body parodies the
form taken by American Pin-up artist
Gil Elvgren," writes the artist.
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"This is the
centre-piece of my artwork on
menstruation. As I have explained, the
pixie represents the menstrual period,
hence taking the place of what has not
transpired to be a human foetus. The
image is intended to be celebratory of
what is commonly termed as the women's
'curse.' This image was made into a
sculpted model (next
page)."
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(Next artist: Elvira)
The artist, Natalie Aniela
Dybisz, England, is studying BA
(Hons) English and Media at the
University of Sussex, and writes,
"For a long time now I have been
intrigued by menstruation as a
symbol of womanhood, but more so
by the imagery surrounding
menstruation. The theme of my
artwork started as 'Illusionism'
I began by looking at the Bible
and questioning its authority,
interpreting it as I would any
media text. I then linked
menstruation to this when I came
across Leviticus.
"I am more interested in the
attitudes to menstruation than the
science of the blood itself. I
therefore refrained from creating
shock art or goriness; I wanted to
depict menstruation in an
endearing manner by using such
images of strawberries and
tomatoes. I turned around
euphemisms that use horror
imagery, such as 'the pixies are
coming,' and made a surreal
adaptation 'Congratulations, it's
a pixie.'
"What I want to communicate is
that menstruation is only as bad a
thing as any bodily function, and
more so, a positive function.
Whilst it is unfairly seen as a
taboo issue, it is beneficent for
art to depict it in divergent
ways. I do not want to glorify
women or glorify menstruation, but
as a novelty, I will spotlight
menstruation as I have done in
'Congratulations, it's a pixie.'
This is a metaphor for discovering
you are on your period, it is not
intended to allude to birth or sex
at all. I have simply used the
idea of birth to hyperbolise one's
period, to celebrate the fact that
the woman can rejoice that once
again she has evaded the often
oppressed responsibilities of
childbearing and housewifery.
Simply put, I strived to create an
entertaining piece of surrealism
that throws a positive light on
women and menstruation."
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NEXT artist:
Elvira
See all the
artists in the links in the
left-hand column.
If you create or own art
concerning menstruation or
menopause and are interested in
showing it on these pages (it's
free!), contact MUM
© 2005 Harry Finley. It is
illegal to reproduce or distribute
work on this Web site in any manner
or medium without written permission
of the author. Please report
suspected violations to hfinley@mum.org
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