ARTIST STATEMENT
This artwork is entitled ‘I will not hide’. It is aimed at challenging the stigma associated with menstrual products. As women I believe we all have the collective experience of hiding our sanitation products. Whether that be hiding it in our bag, or up our sleeve. I wanted to make the definitive statement ‘I will not hide’ on the item that we so often hide. The paradoxical element to this artwork is what makes it so intriguing to me. I have found the making of this artwork has also highlighted how the stigma of menstruation has impacted me. I often create my embroidery on public transport. However with this artwork I didn’t feel it would be socially acceptable to sew this in public. So I hid and made this artwork in private. Highlighting my own hypocrisy and how I still feel the stigma associated with menstruation, and I still feel this need to hide.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Scarlett Ford examines contemporary issues such as women’s role in art history, reparative histories and the female body with a social critique. Through her work she tries to raise awareness of these issues and use the power of art to help with them. Her artwork covers a range of interdisciplinary forms (punch needle tufting, embroidery, cyanotypes). Her work has been exhibited and sold nationally and internationally in cities such as New York City and Chicago. She has worked with multiple creative organisations such as the Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Woman Made Gallery, Multistory and Eastside Projects. She has also been gifted bursaries from the Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Multistory and Arts Connect. She has a First Class degree in Fine Art from the Wolverhampton School of Art.
© Scarlett Ford