Bloodletting Menstruation Art by Jennifer Weigel
Let’s take a brief intermission from the creepy comic collages to talk about my show opening next weekend shall we… I have been involved in menstruation awareness and reproductive rights advocacy through my art for over a decade. Some of these pieces are very intentionally horrific, either to raise awareness of injustices that can and are occurring, or to poke fun at some perceptions associated with the supposed terrors of menstruation.
With the new show coming and considering my recent interviews with Broken Doll Head, I thought I’d share some highlights from the genre as a teaser, including this Lil Miss Spurtz video from Halloween 2017.
Lil Miss Spurtz
My persona Lil Miss Spurtz was my crass and inappropriate avatar of menstruation who appeared in a series of videos released on a schedule of… wait for it… every month. Here she is having a Psycho Carrie moment while trying to take a shower.
Relic
This sculpture incorporates a textured handmade paper moon goddess face in silver, a small jar of saffron signifying wealth, faux insects, candles, and a rubber fetus. Pro-life advocates were known to hand such rubber fetuses to women entering abortion clinics, but many have appeared in art in various forms. This is meant to remind one of the old religious collections of found objects and human bits and pieces supposedly belonging to saints, prophets, apostles and even Christ himself. I’ve always found this history both creepy and fascinating.
Death Sentence
This artwork, as seen in the recent Bodies anthology, is a more direct advocacy piece based upon the Pro-Life Nation article chronicling events that were happening in El Salvador more than two decades ago. My piece predates the overturn of Roe v Wade and focuses on some possibilities in the aftermath of such political action. It has appeared in various forms; this iteration includes a maternity shirt hung on the wall at human height with tangled fiber art accents that spill down the wall and onto the floor. Another, with the inclusion of my own menstrual blood, recently appeared in Roe 2.0 at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago IL USA.
Text reads: Gang-raped, beaten and left in a back alley to die. Pro-life nation has made it illegal to abort. The doctors say that the fetus is lodged in my fallopian tube. Carrying this child to term will most certainly kill me. This is my death sentence. My rapists, after serving only a brief time in jail, are allowed to go free.
Note: if you purchase Bodies through the link provided you will earn some money for Haunted MTL as well, and proceeds benefit charity. So Dark Lord Cthulhu says, “What are you waiting for? Shop away!”
Anyway, I wanted to share these pieces as I gear up for my next big function associated with this series of work, the release of my Ebb and Flow Journal which will be installed in Miami AZ for a year to garner donations of feminine care products for local shelters and food pantries there.
And feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or here on her website.
-Mountains-
A serene mountain landscape yawns; monumental evergreen trees fingering a brilliant azure sky stroked with wispy clouds. The air is crisper and fresher here, wafting its piney fragrance along the meandering deer path that bends and swerves down the gradual slope…
-Reset-
-City-
A bustling urban environment beckons, its diverse, brightly-clothed denizens laughing with one another, casually parting as you stroll through their midst. Sunlight dances through the crowd, reflecting off of towering buildings, cars, and bicycles. Sounds swell together as though breathing life into all interconnected within this rich tapestry of time and space. The street is a cacophony of alluring smells, and the savory scent of kosher all-beef hot dogs…
-Vegetarian-
Fragrant cumin zing of vegetable samosas…
-European-
Perfume of freshly baked baguettes embraces you in a warm hug as you sit at a small metal café table, savoring an espresso…
-Caffeine Free-
Lavender cremosa…
-Non-Carbonated-
Limonade…
-Reset-
-Beach-
The warm sand squishes between your bare toes as the soft ocean waves lap at your feet, beckoning you to wade further into the cool water…
-No Swimming-
The woven rope hammock stretched between two perfectly-spaced palm trees sways slowly as you lounge in its cradle, sipping a Mai Tai…
-Non-Alcoholic-
Iced lemonade in a highball glass through a red plastic straw…
-Eco-Conscientious-
Paper straw, the citrusy elixir providing respite from the steamy…
-Less Hot-
Warm breezy summer…
-Spring-
Spring air, children…
-Nature-
Birds…
-Silence-
You close your eyes, hammock gently rocking you to slumber.
We here at My Universe wish to thank you again for choosing our services. We know that there are many post-cataclysmic alternative realities available, and we appreciate your business. Please enjoy your respite from the societal collapse, and remember us next time you need to unwind.
And feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or here on her website. And if you really feel like getting away and helping clean up the beach a bit, check out this relaxing video from Dylan Clark titled Seagrass. Or maybe that wasn’t so relaxing after all… 😉
Somehow I came across an older Midnight Panther comic book, Feudal Fantasy #2 from the late 1990s to be precise, and I thought I’d reappropriate it into a new story as a collage. Anyway, this is what evolved. Honestly there wasn’t a lot of content to work with, but that isn’t surprising seeing as how that wasn’t really the point of the original… And sorry, I saved the erotic bits for another project, though even that was pretty tame in this one – just a bunch of boobies.
Images: Black and white line drawings of wide-eyed anime women and men in various states of undress, looking cute, being coyly pensive, and hack ‘n slashing.
Text reads: I like… men who are dying. We ought to just kill everyone involved. The scent of blood!! I never see his face, he always wears a mask. What a waste of time. I don’t like this. The horny bastard. What a pig!! -Slash- Sounds like it could be fun.
Images: More black and white line drawings of wide-eyed anime women and men kissing and hack ‘n slashing.
Text reads: Mercenaries of glorious Edo, if you can make the flowers that bloom along the rivers during spring drop their petals, then do so. I’m the Ferryman of the River Styx. Whssh.
OK, OK – here are some boobies since you stuck with this so long. And here’s a link to some more of my comic book collages, in case you are interested.
And feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or here on her website.
Black Friday.
You can’t beat the deals. So many of us. Waiting. Readying. Checking the time. Counting down the seconds. You better believe I earned my place at the start of the line. I’ve been camping out here since late Wednesday. Yeah, yeah, the holiday was yesterday. Whatever, I had my family’s full endorsement.
Because that new high-definition television beckons. The best in zoning out technology. All channel access. Cutting edge entertainment. Bleeding edge. That blade is sharp, baby. Like a razor.
But this kind of escapism is costly. A reality check says it’s not in my family’s budget. We don’t make that kind of money, and so here I am. Among all the others vying for the same prize.
Only one will get there first. Only one available. Must have TV. Must have T.V. Must. Have. T. V.
An employee approaches the door. Nobody noteworthy. A soon-to-be-casualty. No more. No less.
We rise and lurch into place. Ready…
On your mark.
Get set.
Go!
Original images generated with Nightcafe AI art generator.
And feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or here on her website. Or if you just want more zombies, might I recommend either Elvis or the Fashionistas?
-
Book Reviews7 days agoWhat Feasts at Night: An amble through Romanian folklore.
-
Movies n TV6 days agoFreak Out, a Rocky Horror Memoir by Jennifer Weigel
-
Movies n TV4 days ago
Dexter lives in Original Sin, And In the Beginning
-
Book Reviews5 days agoDepression + Apocalype = ?: This Is Not a Test Book Review
