Join academic and artist Dr Bee Hughes (they/them) for a monthly podcast about the representation of menstruation in art. We'll be discussing examples of art from c. 1970 to the present day to consider what art can tell us about attitudes towards periods and people who have them, and about wider society.
Professor Camilla Mørk Røstvik is a Professor in History at the University of Agder, Norway and President of the Society or Menstrual Cycle Research. Until Summer 2022, she was a Lecturer in Modern & Contemporary Art History at the University of Aberdeen, UK. She previously held research fellowships in History and Art History at the University of St Andrews; and at the University of Leeds. Her research interests lie in the intersection of the histories of science/medicine, the history of art, and gender studies, particularly in the mid-late twentieth century.
She is the author of Cash Flow: The Businesses of Menstruation (2022), and is the founder of the Wellcome Trust-funded Menstruation Network UK, and of the Scottish Government-funded project ‘The Arctic Period: Menstruation and Knowledge across Borders’. Her new book Period Art: The Visual Culture of Menstruation is due to be published in November 2026. It examines artists have used menstruation as both subject and material, challenging stigma by making the cycle visible, political, and creative.
Visualising Menstruation is written, hosted, edited and produced by Dr Bee Hughes.
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/flow-state
License code: KL36RERAGRJTA1OS
Follow us on Instagram @visualising_menstruation
Get involved at: https://forms.microsoft.com/e/Vc2h3dqPH8
Find out more about Bee at www.beehughes.co.uk
Full show notes and links to Camilla's work: https://www.beehughes.co.uk/visualisingmenstruation/camillainterview
31 Jul 2026
Women's Work: Menstruation and Gendered Labour
What counts as women’s work? And how does menstruation and menstrual art represent and respond to experiences of gendered, aesthetic and reproductive labour?In Episode 5 of the Visualising Menstruation podcast, we explore these questions through contemporary art, featuring work by Carina Úbeda Chacana, Eleanor Antin, Ingrid Berthon-Moine, Phoebe Ching Yin Man, Lutz Bacher, Lee Bul, Helena Walsh, Catherine Bell, Casey Jenkins, Elspeth Owens, Su Richardson and Jane Woollatt.
Content note: Alongside menstruation itself, we will be discussing themes of sexism, racism, and historical forms of oppression. We’re going to cover abortion, reproductive violence, and on pregnancy, conception and fertility and menopause.
Full show notes including resources and references: https://www.beehughes.co.uk/visualisingmenstruation/s135-womenswork
Visualising Menstruation is written, hosted, edited and produced by Dr Bee Hughes.
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/flow-state
License code: KL36RERAGRJTA1OS
Follow us on Instagram @visualising_menstruation
Get involved at: https://forms.microsoft.com/e/Vc2h3dqPH8
Find out more about Bee at www.beehughes.co.uk
3 Apr 2026
Blood, Thread and Lockdown (Bonus)
Visualising Menstruation is written, hosted, edited and produced by Dr Bee Hughes.
In this episode (a brief departure from our promised schedule) Bee shares project updates, reflects on their experience as Artist in Residence at St Andrews during Covid, talks through some of the menstrual art historical touchstones of their work, and reveals how an iconic academic gown was transformed into menstrual art. Listen now.
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/flow-state
License code: KL36RERAGRJTA1OS
Follow us on Instagram @visualising_menstruation
Get involved at: https://forms.microsoft.com/e/Vc2h3dqPH8
Find out more about Bee at www.beehughes.co.uk and full show notes hereThe Visualising Menstruation project is supported by LJMU Faculty of Society + Culture funding.The Artists Residency and Blood Lines project discussed in this episode were funded by a Diversity and Inclusion Grant from the University of St Andrews. Bee’s residency was hosted jointly by the St Andrews Centre for Contemporary Art and Institute of Gender Studies.
6 Mar 2026
There Will Be Blood (Part 1)
Visualising Menstruation is written, hosted, edited and produced by Dr Bee Hughes.
In today's episode (part 1 of a 2-part special) join Bee to explore how artists have shaped the aesthetics of menstrual blood, from the language of disgust and stigma to imagery that celebrates blood’s beauty, power, and symbolism, and work that uses menstrual blood as a metaphor for social and political violence.We’ll talk about art made by men about menstruation, think through how some works link menstrual blood to universal ideas of femininity, and others that totally reject that framework to make bold political statements. It’s a conversation that goes way beyond the bloody binary — we hope you enjoy.
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/flow-state
License code: KL36RERAGRJTA1OS
Follow us on Instagram @visualising_menstruation
Get involved at: https://forms.microsoft.com/e/Vc2h3dqPH8
Find out more about Bee at www.beehughes.co.uk and full show notes hereThe Visualising Menstruation project is supported by LJMU Faculty of Society + Culture funding.
6 Feb 2026
Bring Out the Bodies
Visualising Menstruation is written, hosted, edited and produced by Dr Bee Hughes.
In this episode we’re going to get into the thorny issues of the naked body in art. Why has femininity historically been labelled as the object, and masculinity as the subject? Is it possible to wrest control of representing bodies away from the regime of the male gaze?
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/flow-state
License code: KL36RERAGRJTA1OS
Follow us on Instagram @visualising_menstruation
Get involved at: https://forms.microsoft.com/e/Vc2h3dqPH8
Find out more about Bee at www.beehughes.co.uk and full show notes here
9 Jan 2026
Painting the Town Red
In the first full episode Bee talks about why they think it’s important to paint the airwaves red with menstrual talk, they discuss some of the ways menstruation has been theorised by art historians and other academics, and discuss examples of art projects by Jen Lewis and Vanessa Tiegs. Full show notes here.
Visualising Menstruation is written, hosted, edited and produced by Dr Bee Hughes.
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/flow-state
License code: KL36RERAGRJTA1OS
5 Dec 2025
Episode 0 - Introducing Visualising Menstruation
In this episode get to know Bee, find out how you can get involved & discover Bee's thoughts on menstrual liminality. Full shownotes: https://linktr.ee/visualisingmenstruation Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/flow-state License code: KL36RERAGRJTA1OS
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