under veiling

there's something here for me about hiding a biological part of who we are that i want to rebel against. not that i want to throw it out there, but i don't accept it as something that is shameful. yet i know of women who don't even look at their own underwear.

it reminds me of when i was in primary school (grade 5) and i was frowned upon because when we played sports and it was warm & i wanted to take my shirt off. i did, but was laughed at as i am a girl, how can i possibly take my shirt off. i was as flat as any boy then. i managed to convince a friend to be part of my take your shirt off group. we didn't keep it up very long.

i am unveiling what is the metaphor? - examining my own relationship to shame, hiding, intimacy of my body, my insecurity.

thinking about the stains...

Yes bloody under wear is part of what we as women deal with every month. i actually try and do my best not to have deal with those stains....and when i do my mother's trick of cold water is the first treatment. more than it reminds me that i have things going on in my body that are me and that are strange....

it has me think of how in many places i have traveled to i am asked to clean my own underwear...sometimes i'm even given special soap with a note on it...in other places as soraya says men or women have happily & anonymously washed my underwear. is it a big deal? or....

what is it about my underwear that i have to hide & why?

who, what, where?

The first pieces have arrived !! Excellent - keep sending them.

Here is someones reaction to UNDER WHERE. This is what I am exploring - how do you feel about your underwear? The reactions are so interesting to me.... how I feel about my own underwear & what is this about who I am as a woman/human.

I invite you to keep sharing your reactions and participate in the UNDER WHERE conversations. These conversations will lead to the art piece, each part of the conversation is like a tone or a hue or even that special texture of the piece.

Well, I'll try to explain what happened in my mind while I read about your project. I went from, 'wow, sounds great' to 'Oh! I'm not sure if I'll do it'. It really raised a lot of questions! First I pictured one of my used underwear and felt really embarrassed about the possibility of someone else looking at it, feels terrible! Why? Because 'someone' (perhaps family and culture) taught me this body fluids are dirty and should be hidden.

Actually, I don't think it is pleasant to acknowledge that these substances came out of my body. I don't want to feel dirty.

Also, I've learnt the colour and texture can reveal a lack of hygiene or an illness, so the more invisible or the less noticeable they are, the better, the cleaner and healthier I am.
The fact that it comes from inside the body makes it very intimate.

Wow! So, why is it that I wouldn't feel that challenged if you were asking for uses tissues?
I've never thought about any of these things!

I guess it has to do with the way societies and cultures have condemned sexuality too, specially amongst women.

M

anonymous posts welcome...

I just realized my settings were not conducive for anonymous comments....this has all changed. i invite you to react!

Under Where??

I am starting new project and line of investigation for the last portion of my time at Metafora. I want to make an installation of dirty women's underwear.

I have asked my women friends, contacts and their friends to donate one or two pairs of their used unwashed underwear. I have not censored this list, it includes my mother, my previous bosses, colleagues, school friends, everyone. This request in itself has provoked a wide range of reactions that i feel are a worthy of debate. I would like to provide this space to converse.

As I get reactions I will post them on the blog as well as post my responses to this. However I would really like to INVITE you to post on the blog.

This is meant to be a piece that invites us to think about what this means to us, to others, in the wider context. It is so interesting to already see so many different reactions from "floor i love you this is great" to "well i'm not sure about this one". What is interesting to me is why? What makes you say that? Its about questioning our own assumptions....and having this be a place where it may lead us to a new way of viewing ourselves as women or not?

from lids to jar bottoms

"untitled", 300 x 20 cm, 2010 nairobi

Somehow I am obsessed by piles - piles of things. This time the pile was formed in a collaborative family effort. A perfect way to spend time together & create. The inspiration was still the jar, this time the other end.