Fantasy vs Reality

I had a discussion with Fran about our mutual enjoyment of disaster films.  A good film will transport you into another world, however although the final effect is realistic on screen, in reality it is only a stage set filled with prop and actors.  Disaster films offer romantic escapism from everyday tribulations.  In Greek tragedy theory, it is thought that the intense emotional experience, acts as an inoculation for the horror of real life.

My pieces today use blood in a more banal way – stained sanitary wear.  The pads were handmade from absorbent materials, stained and stitched.
​
The work is inspired by the typical advertising of sanitary towels, which removes the actual reality of menstruation by replacing the blood with a blue liquid. However a recent campaign by Bodyform, has started to break this taboo by depicting menstrual blood realistically for the first time.
​RG