Biomenstrual: More-than-Human Design of Menstrual Care Practices

Biomenstrual is a Research through Design project for imagining, designing and practicing menstrual care beyond the human body. Drawing from feminist posthumanist theories that address multispecies entanglements ecologies our bodies form part of, we use design practice to research how caring one’s health might extend environment planet’s wellbeing. Motivated by existing practices of using blood as fertilizer, current landscape unsustainable disposable products, designed biodegradable pads speculate on tools are this fabrication process. We introduce imagine cyclical process where absorbent materials in products gathered, assembled into pads, used discarded together with body’s (menstrual blood, mucus tissue) not waste, but fertilizer compost, nourishing soil species biomaterials were first obtained from.
 In pictorial, present process, including resulting biomaterial experiments, recipes, speculative scenarios decomposition. The taking place Nordic working close relation local sphagnum moss gluten extracted wheat, which have superabsorbent pads. From own kitchens turned engineering labs, probes relationships between lab-based experimentation cooking crafting home, drawing figure witch, empirical resourceful woman attending both her body other species.