Biomenstrual
Designing Multispecies Menstrual Care
Biomenstrual is a collection of biomaterial experiments, rituals, and spells for imagining, designing and practicing menstrual care beyond the human body.
Download and read the project spell book
Published / presented at:
Exhibition at Galleri Frihamnstorget October 21 - 28 2021
Presentation at DRS Festival of Emergence September 2021
Presented at the exhibition “MENS!” at Halmstad Konsthall Jan-Mar 2022
Published pictorial in the journal Temes de Disseny Aug 2022
Exhibition at Galleri Frihamnstorget October 21 - 28 2021
Presentation at DRS Festival of Emergence September 2021
Presented at the exhibition “MENS!” at Halmstad Konsthall Jan-Mar 2022
Published pictorial in the journal Temes de Disseny Aug 2022
The project explores designing for non-anthropocentric, ecofeminist practices of human menstrual care. We focus on how menstrual products are made, used, and discarded, with a focus on the material waste generated both by the body (menstrual blood, mucus, and tissue) and by the products (a wide range of organic and non-organic materials such as cotton and plastics). Through our research and practice inspired by speculative and more-than-human design, we have explored how we can design menstrual care practices that re-use and compost this material waste, opening up possibilities for cohabitation and collaboration with other-than-human species, such as bacteria and microbes, plants and insects. This includes cooking biodegradable menstrual pads, tools and practices of fertilizing plants and soil with menstrual blood, and a Biomenstrual book of spells.
Read about the design process on the project blog
A NAVET project by
Nadia Campo Woytuk & Marie Louise Juul Søndergaard
In collaboration with
Martin Ávila (Konstfack), Antonio Capezza (KTH)
Nadia Campo Woytuk (she/her) is a designer, artist and researcher exploring feminist perspectives of technologies. She is currently a PhD student in Interaction Design & Women’s Health at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
Marie Louise Juul Søndergaard (she/her) is a designer and postdoctoral researcher at AHO The Oslo School of Architecture and Design, Norway. Through speculative and feminist design she explores possible futures of intimate technologies.
Thanks to / in collaboration with:
Madeline Balaam & Women’s health team @ KTH, Anton Poikolainen Rosén, Blivande
Credit: Font “Cirrus Cumulus”