2020
Single channel video
stereo sound
Duration:
4’01”
Location: Suffolk
/ˌpɛrɪˈmɛnəpɔːz/ is a moment captured at the last minute and performed to camera. The text is drawn from the personal expressions of women’s experiences shared on the website healthtalk.org taking the form of a concrete poem. You see a disembodied hand in a futile act trying to control blood against the sound of passing time; trying to capture a frantic flurry of mixed emotions, as the blood inevitably ebbs away. An odd sense of loss tangles with a bizarre desire to celebrate. Is this the end of menstruation? In /ˌpɛrɪˈmɛnəpɔːz/ (a phonetic spelling of perimenopause), I wanted to both reference the taboo of menstruation and menstrual blood hidden deep within our cultural heritage, and contemplate a personal social experience.
a woman’s lament
selfless
wake-up call
loss of fertility
final realisation
loss of possibility
question of timing
worthless feelings
this dictating body
most fundamental loss
when life has revolved around partner and child
empowerment tinged with sadness
period of bereavement
physical cycles cease
reaching middle age
hormonal process
sense of loss
liberation
release
selfish