5th — 25h October
From my artifact analysis, I had got an idea of exploring speculative artifacts that challenge the idea of purity. This could also result in a controversial design. Controversial designed artifacts force people to have a dialogue.
I wanted to intertwine the perceived notions of purity and impurity and tried mixing two artifacts to achieve this.
The statue
Statues of gods are considered very holy. I made a statue of the Goddess of desire, but I tried making it such, that the vulva is shown. I also made it red to be highlighted.
Response -
Most of the participants I showed this to were taken aback. They could not fathom a statue having a bleeding vagina. I had showed this a group of 5 people, and they started having an argument over the fact, if menstrual blood was worshipped or not.
This statue bought out emotions to make them comfortable enough to have an argument about it which was the outcome I had desired.
Blood meal
Culturally, in India, a plant of holy basil is treated as pure. Hence, I also started exploring how blood could be beneficial to plants. I found out that some tantric practices in India do use menstrual blood as a fertiliser for plants.
Mixing 1 part of blood with 9 parts water helps to fertilise herbs. Blood meal is an upcoming concept in the west where dried cow blood is used. The blood is collected after the animals are killed and then dried to make a powder.
I started using my own menstrual blood for my herbs at home.
Response -
As I was doing this in India, the people who came by the house were very intrigued. They did not know that menstrual blood could be used for other purposes. One participant mentioned that if women were free bleeding (without sanitary products) the earth would automatically get fertilised. I thought this was a very interesting speculation and wondered what could be the afterlife of menstrual blood.
In an article about composting blood, I found a very interesting concept of building a system with waste pickers as designers. Waste picker collectives especially are positioning themselves as important stakeholders, co-designers and necessary professional consultants on the product design of menstrual disposal technology. (Vaughn, 2020)
Making masks
Transmedia storytelling is a concept introduced by Henry Jenkins and is a technique of experiencing a story across multiple platforms. Usually, transmedia storytelling is on digital platforms, but we chose to introduce a physical element to it. Transmedia storytelling not only tells a story but also helps bring certain elements to one’s real life (Jenkins, 2010)
I wanted to explore bodystorming as a design output and for this I decided to add, the elements of masks. Chhau masks would be cultural, as well as a way to preserve anonymity.
I took the following characters from the story - Kunti, Sage durvasa and Kamakhya devi, and made masks for each of these characters.
I first sketched the characters on paper, and transferred them onto a piece of cardboard. I later painted them and added elements like a crown, jewellery to make it in a stylised version of chhau masks.
Feedback
This was the first week since school started again. Mor told me that I should now move on to the final design as I had done enough research. My cohorts were intrigued by the masks and everyone wanted to try them on. Alistair particularly liked the idea of bodystorming as a design outcome as there were performative aspects to that. John told me to look into LARP - live action role playing.
Reference
Jenkins, H., 2010. Transmedia storytelling and entertainment: An annotated syllabus. Continuum, 24(6), pp.943-958.
Vaughn, R., 2020. Compost and Menstrual Blood. Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience, 6(1).
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