Ruchika Wason Singh

THE BLOOD OF WOMEN: TRACES OF RED ON WHITE CLOTH

Co-curated by Manuela de Leonardis & Rossella Alessandrucci

Teatro Stabile Comunale, Isola del Liri (Frosinone), Italy. 

May 1, 2016- May 14, 2016.

Artist Statement  - Landscape I (1985-2012)        

The work grows from my interest in exploring the natural process of staining in periods; and seek ways in which it can conceptually and visually contribute to my process of art making. This is to say that in Landscape 1985-2012 (I) I am interested in menstrual bleeding becoming synonymous with the process of painting.

I recall my biological experience of ‘periods’ with layerings , superimpositions , irregular patterns of menstrual blood either created naturallyon the menstrual cloths / pads or by errors on the garments. I layer the stains of blood re-created through diluted acrylic paints, onto the menstrual cloth. With variations in the twists of the hand holding the brush, the paints superimpose on one another, just as they would in the natural blood staining. The spontaneity of the rendering on the cloth, replicates with the way menstrual blood randomly stains the pad. It also contributes to a peculiar visual image, metamorphosing the menstrual blood stains into a landscape of blood. 

Dating the work here is a part of the work itself. The numbers suggesting a span of 27 years denote the duration of my experience of regular menstrual bleeding. It is a significant period for me, marking the beginning and the halt of menstrual bleeding during my treatment of chemotherapy in 2012. Ever since I started undergoing hormone therapy post-early stage breast cancer, it came back, went away and keeps coming and going. In this sense the work is a nostalgic, visual archival document of the past, through memory in art. 

As in most of my works, the body ceases to appear in its physicality. Since I am interested in the emotive depth of the physical, emotional and psychological experiences which it (my body) undergoes; the physical depiction takes a back step. Instead, I have rooted my art in finding routes of associated symbols / forms, which are either metaphorical or metonymical. The stains of blood signify a fertile body and play the role of a (recreated) metonymy, which is utilized to further read the stains asmetamorphosed landscape of blood. 

Within the stains I seek to map the presence of my body, and a stage of my feminity; reclaiming and celebrating it in my art. 

 Thirty international artists: Yasue Akiyama, Manal AlDowayan, Wafa Bahai, Alessandra Baldoni, Tomaso Binga, Rosina Byrne, Giovanna Caimmi, Karmen Corak, Vlasta Delimar, Kristien De Neve, Maria Diana, Isabella Ducrot, Maïmouna Guerresi, Susan Harbage Page, Sasha Huber, Hanako Kumazawa, Silvia Levenson, Anja Luithle, Patrizia Molinari, Elly Nagaoka, Sonya Orfalian, Anna Romanello, Ivana Spinelli, Paola Romoli Venturi, Virginia Ryan, Ketty Tagliatti, Judy Tuwaletstiwa, Laura VdB Facchini, Maria Angeles Vila, Ruchika Wason Singh are involved to investigate various aspects of female: birth, puberty, menopause, violence, femicide.

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