12 Jul 2017 | 04:24am IST
Breaking away from taboos on menstruation
Boondh Sustainable Menstruation presents The Crimson Wave, an exhibition of art about and with menstrual blood. Café learns more about changing perspectives about menstruation through the exhibition, which is currently underway at Carpe Diem, Majorda
Dolcy D’Cruz
Boondh, an
organisation founded by Bharti Kannan and Sonal Jain
,
is
promoting the awareness of using menstrual cups
as a
more
sustainable alternative to sanitary napkins
that
take over
800 years to disintegrate. To make this message easier to understand
and
to break
myths
about
menstrual blood being impure, they brought together artists who ha
ve
been doing
menstrual art. The travelling exhibition, ‘The Crimson Wave’
,
was
launched in Chennai on Menstrual Hygiene Day (May 28)
this year
, and has travelled to Bangalore
,
before
heading to Goa
. It will continue its journey
to Pune, Mumbai and
Delhi. The exhibition in Goa is headed by Aditi Dharmadikari.
The
exhibition includes art works on various mediums like canvas, paper, cloth/any
other materials, digital illustrations, photography/videography and small
installations, with a few done using actual menstrual blood. The central idea
of the project is to curate artworks surrounding the period, the myths around
it and representation of female biology from a diverse range of artists across
the world.
“I was
excited to learn about the project and since I am currently settled in Goa, I
thought of bringing the exhibition to Goa. The response to the exhibition has
been great here, with the first day itself creating a lot of buzz about the
menstruation cup
,
which is also available at the venue. The
se
menstruation
cups
,
made by Boondh
,
are made
of medical-grade silicon and do not lead to any rashes
, unlike
pads and tampons. A lot of problems like Toxic Shock Syndrome and
environmental waste get eliminated with the use of these cups,” says Aditi.
Sonal Jain,
the Director of Boondh
,
kickstarted the
project in Chennai and she was excited to see the response for the exhibition.
“It was very interesting to see women attend
the exhibition
;
not just
girls but women in their 50s and 60s
,
who were in their
menopause
,
found the exhibition fantastic. The original
plan was to exhibit the paintings in four cities of India
:
Chennai,
where I am based, Bangalore where Bharati is based
,
and Bombay
and Delhi, where we both studied. However, the exhibition piqued the interest
of many like
-
minded women who are volunteering with the
project. Aditi is
the
one who suggested taking the exhibition to Goa
and Pune and we also got response from cities like Jaipur, Indore and
Hyderabad,” says Sonal.
Though
there were very few artists from India whose works were known, the team of
Boondh got in touch with various artists in India and abroad over social media.
“Sanjana from our team reached out to people over Twitter and Instagram who
were working on breaking myths around menstrual blood being impure or dirty.
There is even a male artist
,
Shreyas Prakash
from Mumbai
,
who has been a part of the project. Their
perspective on the issue depends on where the person is coming from and their
socio-cultural context. The exhibition is explorative and intense and
includes
a wide spectrum of works,” explains Sonal.
The
exhibition has works on the lines of period humour, period politics, PCOS
(Polycystic Ovary Syndrome), puberty, menopause, body positivity and
depression. Bengal
ore
-based Sridevi Sadasivan’s work
,
‘The Last
Red’
,
captures the peaceful acceptance of menopause,
and Chile
an
artist Consuelo Da Costa’s work
,
‘Sinister
Illumination’
,
shows the form of a human face painted using
sharp strokes of blood. Lyla Freechild
, who is based in
Jaipur
,
has been
doing menstrual art for almost 18 months
;
Bansri
Thakkar from Mumbai completed a project on ‘Silence of the Cramps’ around
menstruation
using
stories and anecdotes with an aim to take shame
out of periods. Jen Lewis from Michigan has taken macroscopic images of blood.
‘The
Crimson Wave’ is on display at Carpe Diem, Majorda till July
16, 2017 from 10am to 7pm