In Menstruation, I highlight the challenges faced when forced to question parts of my culture that have defined my female identity. I investigate the taboos of menstruation as a woman who was raised in a brahmin household, in doing so, narrativizing the isolation I experienced of being an outsider in my own home. I confront ideas of otherness experienced by the female body as a result of growing up in a patriarchal society that creates cycles of oppression over women.

Through this body of work, I explore the emotional states of oppression through the self portrait, that exists in dialogue with archives from my childhood. The performance looks at the ritualistic aspect of cleaning, bringing forth the conversation around specific challenges and internalized restrictions experienced by women as a result of socio-cultural norms. In creating a pattern of used menstrual tampons in juxtaposition with a rice flour kollam drawn on the floor, I address the politics of the female body being simultaneously welcome and unwelcome in the domestic space during menstruation.

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