Convener of the Sanitary Pad Media Campaign (SPMC), Anike Funke-Treasure, has said that visual art has the power to challenge the idea that menstruation is normal, eradicate the stigma attached to it in society and culture, and promote candid discussions about menstruation among young people.
Funke-Treasure spoke at the “Paint & Sip Event”, a menstrual health awareness programme with the theme “My Menstrual Power” by SPMC in partnership with BetaTogether and the National Museum of Unity, Ibadan, for girls and boys from 3 schools, including Ibadan School for the Deaf.
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According to her, using paintings to graphically depict menstruation can help young teenage girls have open conversations about menstrual hygiene, periods, debunk period misconceptions, and challenge the notion that it is abnormal.
“It is to get the students to talk about what they think menstruation is? This is our first time of using visual arts to express menstruation. And we hope to continue from here. We see this as introducing them to visual arts skills. We want them to be able to express themselves in visual arts forms. We want them to think about menstruation.
“The boys are painting along with the girls. They are caregivers when there are period conditions. So it is important that boys are here. And they’re expressing themselves in visual arts.”
Oyo State Commissioner for Health, Dr Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi, represented by the Reproductive Health Officer for the Ministry, Mrs Tolulope Anjorin, declared that menstrual hygiene is important to protect them from infections, prevent bad odour, and boost their confidence.
She cautioned them against the use of medicines for menstrual pain without a prescription from the physician, and trying out other non-pharmacological methods like drinking warm water or a hot water massage of the tummy for their pain.
Dr Ajetunmobi said it is misinformation that menstruation is a dirty thing; bathing is not necessary during menstruation, and while menstruating, they can’t pray and worship God, and they cannot attend school.
“It is just a normal biological phenomenon that occurs in every girl-child, which they should be proud about. It’s not something to feel ashamed about. It is God who put these physiological and biological processes in their body. So it is a very normal thing for them to pray and do the normal thing.”
Curator of the National Museum of Unity, Ibadan, Mrs Oriyomi Otuka, in her welcome address, said menstruation is something that a girl/woman is supposed to be proud of, and its absence is a source of concern because it indicates that the girl can conceive and bring forth life.
Mrs Otuka said painting is all about expression and urged the participants in the “Paint & Sip Event” to express what menstruation means to them through painting rather than talking.
Olaide Turner-Moyet, the Chief Executive Officer of the Young Artists Art Hub and the trainer at the event, told the participants that menses is very important, saying, “It’s your power as a woman. It also means that you carry the ability to conceive and to bring forth life.”
Turner-Moyet asked them to take care of their feminine hygiene, carry themselves with dignity, and feel free to express whether they felt happy, excited, moody, or sad about menstruation on a canvas to be displayed on the wall.
“When other people ask you, ‘What’s this painting about? You can tell them what the painting is about; that’s also part of the power that you have put out visually for the world to see.”
