JANNIEKE VISSER AND MANAL AL-HARAZI

ARTIST BIO

Jannieke Visser and Manal Al-Harazi, are Fine Arts students at AKI Artez in Enschede, in The Netherlands. Connected through friendship, though their artistic practice differ in themes, they found a common theme to explore together and also connect their practices.

Jannieke’s practice is an exploration of inner wonder, which she explores through the themes surrounding stillness and the rhythms in nature connecting it to the human experience. Manal’s practice explores themes of biculturality and identity through multimedia works and the relationship one maintains with oneself and others. The exploration continues with the emotions that are interwoven within these connections.

Both Jannieke and Manal have pariticipated in exhibitions within Enschede and outside of it. They also participated in open calls which for example has lead to their research paper to be published by APRIA: ArtEZ Platform for Research Interventions of the Arts in 2025.


ARTIST STATEMENT

With this work we aim to contribute to the empowerment of menstruation. We have achieved this by perfecting recipes, which can be used to make utensils and tableware. They are made from bioplastics that contain menstruation blood. We collected the blood from our bodies, as we sought for a non-violent way to extract blood. This lead us to the subject of menstruation and the struggles and stigmas we have encountered in our life.

We aim to highlight the mundane in the work which is why we opted for bioplastics. Because similar the blood extraction process, it can be done at home. We did not just cook recipes, we were in the kitchen because we wanted to be there. We wanted to show the world what it means to combine the ingredients and cook as a way of getting closer to yourself, your body and the way you view menstruation. To show what it means to make something that can be done with your blood, in your home, in your kitchen, because you want to.

Our blood is something we have learned to hide, to have an aversion to. With this work, we showed that our menstruation blood can be beautiful and that it is something which should be visible.

Due to this, the tableware which we created -and perhaps you will too- gives an opportunity to start a conversation and bring knowledge about menstruation.