Date of Award
Spring 5-22-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Illustration
First Advisor
Leela Corman
Second Advisor
Meredith Stern
Third Advisor
Sadie Levine
Abstract
Menstrual Muses is an artistic research project comprising a written thesis and a body of work developed across soft sculpture, ceramics, illustration, graphic memoir, digital media, and participatory workshops. The written component operates alongside the studio practice, outlining the project’s theoretical framework, methodology, and context while engaging questions of communication, accessibility, embodiment, and stigma. It situates menstruation within feminist discourse, examining how it has been culturally silenced, regulated, and shaped through systems of power.
The artistic work functions as research materialized through practice, responding to the central question of how my art can facilitate conversations around menstrual justice. It explores storytelling, materiality, and participation as methods for engaging with experiences often rendered private or taboo. Through softness, humor, and embodied encounter, the work creates entry points that allow audiences to approach stigmatized content without defensiveness.
Menstruation is frequently constructed as something to be hidden, controlled, and managed rather than openly acknowledged. Experiences of menstruation are shaped by their degrees of visibility, regulation, and cultural discourse. Drawing on Donna Haraway, Audre Lorde, and Michel Foucault, this project understands menstruation as both an embodied experience and a site produced through discourse, visibility, and control. From this position, it develops the Care-Based Communication Framework, which proposes that stigmatized bodily knowledge becomes communicable through strategies grounded in care, participation, and embodied encounter.
Recommended Citation
Koleli, Burcu, "Menstrual Muses: Art, Storytelling, and the Care-Based Communication of Menstrual Justice" (2026). Masters Theses. 1583.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1583
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Included in
Art Practice Commons, Contemporary Art Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Fiber, Textile, and Weaving Arts Commons, Fine Arts Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Graphic Communications Commons, Graphic Design Commons, Illustration Commons, Interactive Arts Commons, Interdisciplinary Arts and Media Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Sculpture Commons, Visual Studies Commons, Women's Studies Commons