Jen Lewis: Beauty in Blood

Jen Lewis

Beauty in Blood

When we say art is personal, we usually mean we all have our own interpretations and approaches to an individual piece. When Jen Lewis says her art is personal, she means something entirely different. While viewers are still asked to revel in the vibrant colour and whirling momentum of each piece, they’re also informed that Lewis’ medium is menstrual blood.

‘There is more to my art than simply bleeding into the toilet each month. Each image is substantially more than a crass or vulgar image thrown up on a wall for mass shock appeal.’

Self-titled Menstrual Designer Lewis believes ‘menstruation needs to be seen to help normalise the female body’ and viewers need to ‘reflect on their personal gut reactions’ to the subject. Her inspiration came when she switched from tampons to a menstrual cup, which collects ‘the rich, viscous red substance’ rather than absorbing it with cotton. When she emptied it into the toilet bowl, she noticed the blood ‘mimicked the properties of paint.’

‘I quickly became entranced by the designs the poured blood made in the toilet: the stark contrast of bright crimson against the porcelain white bowl; the various plunging speeds at which the clots, fluid and tissue travelled to the bottom; and the patterns made by the liquid upon its first impact with the water and the subsequent patterns made as it dispersed through the water.’

It’s quite beautiful when you put it like that.

‘There was a captivating, unexpected yet undeniable attractiveness there in the bowl before me that I had never previously observed. The socially conditioned “ew” response was instantly and wholly drowned out by the vibrant design.’

Inspired, Lewis recruited her husband, Rob, to help create her art.

‘As one might assume, the life cycle of one of my pieces begins with the first day of my menstrual cycle and my trusty menstrual cup. When the time comes, Rob fires up the studio lights in our bathroom, gets into position with the camera, and I begin to dump, drizzle and drip the bloody matter into a clean toilet bowl. Some pours mimic a “real life” dump, i.e. quick and unintentional, while others are more carefully executed to render “beautiful” or “interesting” designs.’

‘While the subject matter and overall thrust of the project are feminist at their core, Beauty in Blood is a collective project executed by myself and Rob. Feminism is as much about men who promote women’s rights as it is about the women who fight for the movement, so enlisting a male artist to move this project forward was a completely natural step.’

Lewis calls her work an aesthetic examination of menstrual blood and believes there is no place in modern society for taboo subjects, especially for women.

‘The images I capture force the viewer to think about menstruation in an entirely new way. Pacifying social taboos only serves to give more power to society than to the self, and as women, we have done that for far too long. The time is now to shut down the long-held shame and squeamishness surrounding menstruation.’

‘Ultimately, the Beauty in Blood project challenges the long-standing cultural taboo of women’s menstrual cycles by offering the viewer another perspective of period blood. We live in a world where we are completely desensitised to blood shed in violence but are squeamish at the mere mention or suggestion of a woman’s menstruation, something every woman has for about 35 to 40 years of her life. I challenge the notion that menstruation is “gross”, “vulgar”, or “unrefined” and present the beauty my body creates monthly within the traditional context of fine art.’

‘If I have learnt anything over the years producing Beauty in Blood, it is that menstruation matters more than most people in society are willing to recognise; it is deeply embedded in our global body politics and is a major contributor to the vast gender inequity between men and women today. Institutionalised hierarchies maintain and support the outdated patriarchal belief that menstruation makes the female body inferior to the male body. In my experience, women and men are hungry for an authentic dialogue about menstruation and all that encompasses. It is a natural, messy but beautiful part of life.’

Find her work here.