Poulomi Basu's Blood Speaks Project Confronts Menstrual Taboos and Violence Through Photography and VR

Indian artist Poulomi Basu's multimedia project Blood Speaks, initiated in 2013, confronts the Nepalese-Hindu tradition of chhaupadi, which forces menstruating women into isolation. The practice, outlawed in 2005 but still prevalent in rural Western Nepal like Karnali, exiles women to huts, restricting them from household activities and exposing them to health risks and violence. Basu's work includes photographs from Nepal, published by Water Aid and media outlets like Time, National Geographic, and The New York Times. In 2017, she expanded it into a virtual-reality installation, A Ritual of Exile, presented at Cortona On The Move in 2018, using immersive footage from chhau goths to share women's stories. Basu has collaborated with activists and charities such as Water Aid's 'To Be A Girl' and Action Aid's '#MyBodyIsMine'. Despite Nepal's 2017 strengthened laws imposing fines and prison for enforcing chhaupadi, including a 2020 conviction, Basu notes resistance to change. She plans an animation and graphic novel for rural Nepalese communities and aims to present Blood Speaks at the World Economic Forum. Basu was nominated for the 2021 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize for her photobook Centralia (2020), with her work exhibited at The Photographers' Gallery, London, from 25 June to 26 September 2021. The project links menstruation stigma to domestic violence, seeking to empower women through visibility and storytelling.