This idea stemmed from the stigma behind periods, despite just about 50% of the human population being people who endure them. Periods are such a stigmatized topic among thew majority of people that it has prevented many from being able to deal with issues surrounding the topic. Even in commercials for period production, the product’s absorption is demonstrated with some blue laundry detergent-looking liquid because even red liquid is too “shocking.” This photo is her to show that periods are not in fact light blue, same consistency fluids. Periods are messy and gross, and they are for the most part not pretty. This isn’t to say that periods are gross and we shouldn’t talk about them, but that periods vary and we need to talk about them. We talk about our symptoms of a sickness in detail because its important (a wet cough or a dry cough, a runny nose, vomiting bile or vomiting food), just as we should talk about periods.
As a female who has a period, it is obvious to me that misinformation is out there. I used to think that the “chunks” in my period were abnormal because period was just supposed to be smooth, liquid, and blue according to commercials. I admit, I didn’t think my period was supposed to be blue, but the clots and color were, to my knowledge, not normal. However, since the clots and darker color were consistent with my period, I carried on. Only later in my life did I find out that clotting was normal, since the period was not just blood, but epithelial tissue being shed from the inner lining of the uterus. Also, the darker, or brown color, simply meant that the discharge was older and took longer to leave the uterus, which again, was normal. As a person who had to find this our years into having a period, that information is something I want to pass on. The only way to pass on that information is to be able to openly be able to talk about periods without fear of “grossing people out.”
With this photograph, I believe I accomplished my goal. In all honesty, I was not menstruating when this project came around, so the photo was my best recreation of my own menstruation using soy sauce, barbecue sauce, and sriracha sauce. If someone with a similar menstruation discharge were to see this, they may feel a little more comforted to know that someone else had a similar experience. However, just this photograph can not change the way the majority of people view periods and how they talk about them. In a different scenario, I would be able to do so with a series of photographs or creating a video with many people talking about their periods. In an even bigger scope, I could have advocated for reform on sexual education in schools to include a more in depth discussion on menstruation. All this would still be “shocking” to most people in today’s society.
“Shocking art” is a powerful tool in displaying topics that people seem to try to avoid talking about. Periods, in my example are shocking because that simple image is revolting to many, which was my point. In order to normalize a natural process like menstruation, we need to expose it. Otherwise, people will continue with their misinformed opinions that women should just “hold in their periods” instead of fighting for the removal of taxes on menstruation products. Another topic this form of “shocking art” can be used on is homelessness. If I had more time, I would have photographed a camp created in LA under a bridge above a portion of the LA river. These types of situations that people are put in are not shown to the majority of people, but they should be if we are to begin to solve them at all.
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