Blood, Lead, and Tears is a multimedia installation responding to the 2024 study, “Tampons as a source of exposure to metalloids” by Jenni A. Shearston, which found that most well-known tampon brands had unsafe concentrations of toxic heavy metals (such as lead, cadmium, and arsenic). Due to the absorptive tissue within the vagina, these metals can directly enter the body’s bloodstream, potentially causing great harm.
To explore this concept, I photographed a wide range of menstruating subjects who have used tampons on Polaroid film, degrading their image within chemical concentrations that reflect the amount of chemistry they have been exposed to from these products. Through the physical degradation of the portrait standing in for the subject’s body, one can investigate how the exposure to heavy metals within tampons has degraded a variety of menstruating bodies over the course of their lives, and how it can be visually represented.
This project aims to explore themes of both externally and internally driven misogyny, as well as the lack of education and respect for the menstruating body that is still prevalent. Menstruation is a process that affects approximately 50% of the population, yet the subject is considered taboo and disgusting, despite being a normal bodily function. Tampons have been marketed as the best option for menstruation, but they have been produced without proper warnings, exposing people to harm for years without acknowledgement or attempts to create a safer product.
Maryn Western is a photographer and multimedia artist who specializes in concert photography, conceptual approaches, and installation work. Focused on themes of feminism, memory, and identity, she creates works that seek to accessibly communicate these complex ideas. Although working with still images, the energy she captures moves beyond the frame, giving viewers multisensory experiences of a story-filled world.