Meet Georgia Gibson, An Artist Who Proves Periods Have Glitter in Them

Meet Georgia Gibson, An Artist Who Proves Periods Have Glitter in Them

We absolutely LOVE getting to talk to fans of HelloFlo about what women empowerment means to them, so of course we were so very excited when Georgia Gibson, an extremely talented artist, emailed us about a recent art installation she did relating to menstruation.

Her message? Women shouldn’t be embarrassed of their periods, nor should your crimson tide be considered dirty.

Want more of Gibson? Check out our interview below, and take a look at her incredible website HERE!

HelloFlo: How can art spread a message of women empowerment?

Georgia Gibson: I think art is especially important for young women in modern society. Previously, I think it’s been a lot harder to get female work noticed due to the amount of sexism within the industry, but recently there’s been such a surge online of women produced art. It’s very inspiring to me to be able to go online and see women’s issues being talked about, even if it’s just in the medium of art pieces that make you sit and think for a few minutes. It’s great to watch photographic pieces go viral, because as soon as you put a piece out there it can be reposted with 100 different meanings and captions.

Women take what they want from it, as do other genders. With my piece, I had a lot of negative comments from cis males, with my piece being posted all over message boards talking about how it was ‘disgusting’ and feminism had ‘gone too far’. With girls they mostly seemed to think it was turning periods into something cute and sassy, and it was referred to a lot as the ‘Beyonce Period’ on twitter–much to my amusement.
 
HF: What inspired you to create this piece? 
 
GG: In general the piece was all about looking at menstruation in a more positive like, and changing it to show the same subject but make the aesthetics look more ‘pretty’. The title of the piece, ‘I don’t only have glitter in my veins’, was originally inspired by a boy who would compliment me all these silly things like “you’re so pretty you have glitter in your veins” but would only focus on pretty aspects of women, and not their whole identity. I find men’s desire to just ignore the fact menstruation happens to women very amusing, but on the whole it’s actually quite damaging to young women who are just starting their periods and are made to feel ashamed and disgusted by such a natural thing.

HF: What’s next for you and your art career?

GG: I’ve just finished my a levels, so I’m off to a foundation course then hopefully off to do an arts degree in Manchester. In the short term though, I’m just looking to do more exhibitions, I really love getting the word out about female based art work. I’ve had two exhibitions so far, and I’m working at the moment with arts group Clandestine Collective who are looking for chances to exhibit young female artists from northern England. The group was started by myself and my best friends/fellow artists and it’s really taken off this year so I’m incredibly excited to see where that will take me!

Cover image courtesy of Georgia Gibson.