By John Owoo
(Accra – Ghana)
An exhibition featuring artworks by Samuella Graham that address menstruation—the monthly shedding of the uterine lining, which causes vaginal bleeding as part of the female reproductive cycle—is currently on display at the Worldfaze Art Practice Gallery in Accra.
Long burdened by taboo, myth, and discriminatory customs, the menstrual cycle remains one of society’s most policed natural processes – and the artist responds to this widely discussed issue with confrontation rather than subtlety.
Curated by the Worldfaze team, her abstract red-dominated canvases strike first. The colour is unmistakable: blood, yes, but also insistence—on presence, on life, on the body refusing erasure. The works pulse with tension, capturing both the physicality of menstruation and the emotional weight of a topic wrapped in silence.
Pixelation, a distinctive technique in the show, emphasizes that point. It implies distortion and censorship, reflecting the blurred cultural understanding of menstruation and even the artist’s own myopia. The result is a visual field that questions who controls what is seen and said.
But the exhibition’s most striking moments come from Graham’s use of everyday menstrual products. Flowers made from pads, tampons planted in a red pot, and rows of white second-hand underwear stained with red dye confront viewers directly.
These objects, often hidden from public view, are placed at the center of the room and during the conversation. Her choice of oborɔni wawu underwear is pointed—garments already shaped by unknown bodies now become symbols of shared stigma and buried narratives.
The show exists in a context where menstrual shame has real consequences: girls missing school due to lack of sanitary products, women barred from religious rituals, and widespread misinformation that shapes attitudes from childhood into adulthood. By bringing these issues into the gallery, she challenges a culture that still teaches many to look away.
Importantly, she is not providing solutions. Instead, she makes refusal itself the focus—refusing to hide, soften, or sanitize. The exhibition poses direct questions: What have we been taught to believe about menstruation? Who benefits when women’s bodies are kept secrets? And what changes when we choose to confront rather than conceal?
With this body of work, Graham redefines menstruation as neither shameful nor extraordinary, but fundamental—a cycle that warrants visibility, respect, and above all, honesty.
The exhibition runs until Wednesday, December 24, 2025
