It's called a 'Period' and that's a 'Pad'

 

My first encounter with the idea of periods was strange. I was a complete novice to the world of womanhood. In 5th grade my school teachers held a homeroom lecture on puberty, ensuring that the boys and girls across the grade were separated. A very strategic and controlled set of words was employed to ensure that children walked only the directed path the teachers tried to carve out.

‘Don’t talk to too many people about it if you don't have to’

‘Don’t answer queries from the boys about what was covered in the girl’s session’

I have had discussions with my father where the topic of menstruation happened to come up, to which I was given a rather silent response, teaching me at an early age that this must not be spoken of.

I grew up in a household that didn’t impose any restrictions upon me for having cycles, which although seems to be rather oblivious, for many women across several third-world countries or deeply cultural or religious settings, the same is a luxury.

Even the mere mention of the subject has been considered taboo in the past and till date continues to become a hurdle in our society. 

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More specifically in India, the myth dates back to Vedic Times and is often linked to Indra’s [god of rain in Hinduism] slaying of the Vritras [danava in Hinduism, the personification of drought], who was also a Brahaman. It is said that guilt, for killing a brahmana appears every month in the form of vaginal bleeding that women had to take upon themselves as part of Indra’s guilt. Further in the Hindu faith, it is important that a woman is prohibited from normal life during menstruation. She must be purified.

While these practices change and eveolve over periods and along certain starts of society, I find that they are most certainly prevalent amongst several modern, educated women. Some of my own aunts refuse to step foot into the kitchen or the temple in lieu of their cycles. What is also interesting is that many women make these decisions a ‘conscious choice’. However, these conscious choices only ever arose from a regime acquired at an earlier age alongside a very strong sociteal norm backed by religion

I wanted to bring myths about menstruation, the struggle of period poverty and my personal experiences with these issues under the umbrella through visuals that were compelling and unconformable to face, just like the subject itself. To achieve this I wanted the piece to touch thematic ideas and images that were perhaps even considered rather provocative creating a sense of tension in the environment which made me want to use actual sanitary pads as my canvas. I worked out simple ideas in the form of mind maps that correlated to the issues I wished to present, subtlety translating aspects of traditional feminine beauty to embroider the pads whilst maintaining the balance between the striking STs and the images on them.

​​, I drew out a list of objects and/or activities that are traditionally associated with being a woman in India.

• The red bindi- in simpler rhetorics is a cosmetic mark or a sticker (in modern times) that is worn by a woman to enhance her beauty, especially in the subcontinent of India. Several religious interconnections are drawn to the bindi as well. In Hinduism, it is seen to be the ajna chakra or the third eye of wisdom capable of seeing the inner world while the eyes see the external world. It is symbolic of being centred and meditative from a historical context but in the 21st century it is purely a form of embellishment for most women.

• The act of sewing. This is conventionally stereotyped as a feminine activity across various cultures and communities. In the past, sewing was indeed often considered a traditional "woman's job," particularly in domestic settings. However, the professional fields of tailoring and clothing design were historically dominated by men for a variety of reasons. Additionally, it employs the attributes of creativity and delicacy while manoeuvring the cloth which are also typically feminine behaviours. More specific to India, it has a rich history of textiles which made practices of sewing widespread across the women of the country.

• Mehendi or Henna is another traditional dye that is used to draw on the hands and feet of a woman before rituals essentially to beautify her, symbolic of femininity.

• Similarly, Aalta and Sindoor are vegetable dyes that are used to decorate females during marriage ceremonies, religious festivities and performances across different regions of the country

• Needles – symbolic of the piercing pain experienced by women both because of the way society treats their natural human processes but also the ache caused by the nature of the processes themselves.

The purpose of this list was to document the possibilities of materials that could allow me to create the thematic tie seamlessly and subtly. I primarily used stitching techniques to create symbolic images in the pads, each of which narrates a different chapter of the same story about menstruation and its impact on women in the social sphere, particularly in India.

Once all the pads were completed, I wanted to think a little more about how the piece would be put together. Many times I find it helpful to put a piece away from me for a couple of days and then look at it through a fresh pair of eyes which is what I did by keeping it locked away at school only to look at it a few weeks later. I had wrapped all of the pads in a sheet to keep them safe and the second unfolded this sheet to relook at the pads, I recognised the shock that one would normally experience seeing a sight of STs lying around with red all over them. I realized that because this piece was always in my sight I got used to it, forgetting that such imagery is considered very provocative in society. So, I decided that the best way to present it was by simply laying it for observation, very forward