4. Do you have any specific technique that you use when you paint? What other types of mxnstrual art do you make?
I collect my blood in a menstrual cup. First time I did it I just pulled it right out and sat there half-naked and painted the first thing I could think of. I really like using the blood from the first day because it can be goopy and the red hue is really jarring before it dries brown. I mainly paint vulvas and bleeding vaginas or yonic things - like pears- that have vaginas. I think it just makes the most sense. A friend of mine who I discovered also does mxnstrual art- first thing they painted was a huge uterus.
It’s pretty cool painting with friends also on their period. I like to believe our bodies communicate without us knowing and then when we sync up and paint together it feels really badass. Though, every once in awhile, I will still catch myself having taboo feelings about blood and fluid mixture and be really grossed out but painting helps me get over those things. Other times, if I’m dealing with certain negative experiences I won’t even want to acknowledge that I have a vagina. I’ll sometimes take a break from erotic/mxnstrual art and just focus on other projects.
The other menstrual-”esque” art that I do are with my ceramics. I throw with porcelain and make bowls and cups. Then I glaze them with white or clear and paint them with iron oxide. After it comes out of the kiln it looks like a really white bowl with a dripping puddle of brownish-red period blood- reminds me of emptying my menstrual cup in the toilet.
In terms of new projects- since I’ve started painting with my blood I’ve always wanted to do a more collaborative series with a partner with a penis. It would be really fun to have them cum on some paper or fabric and sprinkle glitter on it. Eventually I would also want to mix mxnstrual blood in that. But this project hasn’t really presented itself yet.
5. I notice with alot of depictions of vaginas there is this standard way in which they are depicted. They are often times show as pink when not everyone has pink vaginas. Or, it might be symmetrical or “aesthetically” pleasing. For a lot of folks who possess vaginas, how their vaginas looks can be something of great importance. What do you think about that? Do you bare that in mind when you paint?
I think about this a lot. With my mural, a guy walked past and asked in a really creepy way if it was a self portrait. This made me really uncomfortable and also pissed me off. For me, I am not that good at depicting the variety of labias out there and all of my paintings look basically the same.
Also, color- originally this mural was supposed to be in black and white but when I started it I didn’t have any black paint available. I started with whatever paint I could find in the basement and mixed colors as best I could. I stepped back and asked my guy friend “Does this look like just another white girl pink pussy?”. I wanted it to capture the complexity of lip color. I didn’t want it to be this pink labiaplasty pussy.
I want people to be able to identify with my work in some way but it’s also pretty wonderfully impossible because we all look different. Womxn should just go out and paint their own I guess. On a wall. In public. It’s a change of scenery from all the dick bombs taking up public space.
Follow Scarlett’s projects at AnthropoMammal
Follow her Instagram: xxgirlflu
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