See art by Mayra Alpízar | Carlota Berard | Jennifer Boe | Roz Bonnet | Luiza Brown | Nikoline Calcaterra | Judy Chicago | Selin Cileli | Maldoror Capvt Corvi | Maribel Cruz | Thomasin Durgin | Natalie Aniela Dybisz | Elvira | Anne Encephalon | Hélène Epaud | Quiara Z. Escobar | Fanni Fazekas | Pat Fish | Julie Gaw | Gina | Kat Grandy | Martina Hoffmann (1 & 2) | Jelena | Judy Jones | Margaret Kalms | Brina Katz | Lorraine Lamothe | Ria Lee | Sharon Lee | Lana Leitch | Carol Nathan Levin | Katy Luxion | Sarah McCutcheon | Isa Menzies | Megan Morris | M. Parfitt | Petra Paul | Ana Elena Pena | Melina Piroso | Elentye Paulauskas-Poelker | Leigh Radtke | Jacquelyn Rixon | Isa Sanz | Vladislav Shabalin | Nelson Soucasaux | Paula Speakman | Alexandra Steiner | Melina Szapiro | Von Taylor | Jean Tracy | Joseph Tonna | Jessica Wagner | Jennifer Weigel | Terry Wunderlich | Tamara Wyndham | New Guinea menstrual hut carving
Art of Menopause by Coni Minneci
Ancient Peruvian menstrual art
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.
HOMEPAGE
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
HOMEPAGE |
MUM address & What does MUM mean? |
Email the museum |
Privacy on this site |
Who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! |
Art of menstruation (and awesome ancient art of menstruation) |
Artists (non-menstrual) |
Asbestos |
Belts |
Bidets |
Birth control and religion |
Birth control drugs, old |
Birth control douche & sponges |
Founder bio |
Bly, Nellie |
MUM board |
Books: menstruation & menopause (& reviews) |
Cats |
Company booklets for girls (mostly) directory |
Contraception and religion |
Contraceptive drugs, old |
Contraceptive douche & sponges |
Costumes |
Menstrual cups |
Cup usage |
Dispensers |
Douches, pain, sprays |
Essay directory |
Examination, gynecological (pelvic) (short history) |
Extraction |
Facts-of-life booklets for girls |
Famous women in menstrual hygiene ads |
FAQ |
Feminine napkin, towel, pad directory |
Founder/director biography |
Gynecological topics by Dr. Soucasaux |
Humor |
Huts |
Links |
Masturbation |
Media coverage of MUM |
Menarche booklets for girls and parents |
Miscellaneous |
Museum future |
Norwegian menstruation exhibit |
Odor |
Olor |
Pad, towel, napkin directory |
Patent medicine |
Poetry directory |
Products, some current |
Puberty booklets for girls and parents|
Religion |
Religión y menstruación |
Your remedies for menstrual discomfort |
Menstrual products safety |
Sanitary napkin, towel, pad directory |
Seguridad de productos para la menstruación |
Science |
Shame |
Slapping, menstrual |
Sponges |
Synchrony |
Tampon directory |
Early tampons |
Teen ads directory |
Tour of the former museum (video) |
Towel, pad, sanitary napkin directory |
Underpants & panties directory |
Videos, films directory |
Words and expressions about menstruation |
Would you stop menstruating if you could? |
What did women do about menstruation in the past? |
Washable pads |
Read 10 years (1996-2006) of articles and Letters to Your MUM on this site.
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.


The Art of Menstruation at the Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health


Tamara Wyndham's
Red Tide

July 22, 1989
Kate Millett Art Colony, Poughkeepsie, New York

 

 

 

 

RED TIDE

Tamara Wyndham

July 22, 1989

Kate Millett Art Colony, Poughkeepsie, New York

The stage set was entirely white: white walls, a white sheet of paper on the wall, a small table with a white tablecloth. On the table was a white teapot and a white carton of white eggs, a metal egg beater and a clear glass bowl. I was dressed in a white T shirt and white drawstring pants.

I had memorized the following text, which is a combination of a childhood memory and a dream. As I spoke it, I made a charcoal drawing on the paper of what I was speaking about, starting with the ocean, then the clouds, the rain, the elephant, the golden disks and the hibiscus.

I performed this work on the heavy day of my period. I wore no underwear and no tampon nor napkin, so that I bled onto my pants as I performed.

When I finished speaking the text, I went outside and quickly took off my clothes, then re-entered naked, with my internal organs painted on the front of my torso. Without speaking, I took an egg from the carton and broke it into the bowl. Inside the eggshell was not egg, but my own menstrual blood. From the teapot I poured red hibiscus tea into the bowl with the blood. I whisked it together, and then drank it.

TEXT:

On the coast of California where I grew up, one day when I was a girl, the ocean turned red. It was a dark brownish red, the color of old blood. A foul fish smell filled the air, for thousands of dead fish had washed ashore the beaches.

A shift in the climate had caused the temperature of the ocean to warm. In this warm water, billions of phytoplankton, tiny organisms halfway between plant and animal, reproduce rapidly. They crowd toward the surface to receive sunlight, and the density of their great numbers discolors the water. My mother told me that they killed the fish by using up all of the oxygen in the water; but actually they produce one of the most toxic poisons known.

My mother was curious and took me to the beach to look at the dead fish and the red water. I was fascinated. But she would not let me play in the water nor touch the fish.

The warm ocean water evaporates, and condenses high in the air to form cumulus clouds. The cumulus build up rapidly into tall towers called castelllanus. The clouds become saturated, and a heavy rain falls and clears the air of the dead fish smell.

The tide recedes, and in the distance, a gigantic elephant rises from the ocean. She is huge and magnificent, and is an omen of great changes in the world, and of danger. She moves slowly through the water toward the shore and into the town,lifting her great feet gently as she walks down the street past the house where I lived. She walks calmly and magnificently, causing no harm. The people keep at a distance and watch cautiously.

Now, two great golden disks, of thirty feet diameter, representing the planets Jupiter and Saturn, roll down the street. One from West to East, the other from East to West. They cross paths right in front of where I am standing, in front of my house. This signifies that the sea will flood the land.

At this point, it is revealed to me that a certain flower, a red hibiscus flower, will be of great help and importance in the coming years. This flower is known in many parts of the world, and a sharp red tea is made from its petals.


See Tamara Wyndham's prints of her vulva using menstrual blood

Next artist: New Guinea menstrual hut carving
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


© 2003 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