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Anna Randal for Art-Sheep

Images © Jen Lewis and Rob Lewis

Denver-based artist Jen Lewis started using the menstrual cup in 2012. Since then, she and her husband Rob Lewis embarked on what would become Beauty in Blood, a project devoted to changing the way society sees period blood, the way women feel about it and the perceptions around women on their periods.

Staring from the bathroom, the couple began experimenting on how to pour and photograph the blood. Using other fluids and various vessels, the Lewises always try to create interesting shapes and color gradients, with the blood blending in delicately and harmoniously. The quality of the fluids are very important for this project, as the final photographic result depends on their mixture.

Beauty in Blood is Jen and Rob Lewis’ way of opening a dialogue about how women have stayed silent and have been oppressed by religious and philosophical ideologies, the society and the media. Girls grow up ashamed of their female nature, as period blood remains an issue that make them feel embarrassed and dirty since their very first cycle.

This taboo is here getting de-constructed, as the aesthetically presentation and the photographic skills create an image that not only praises the female body and the biological process of menstruating, but it also helped Jen and Rob feel more comfortable in discussing about the details of Jen’s period, while Rob often invites other men to speak their opinion about this issue.

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