I have found during an iron pour I am always on my period. It either starts the day before or the morning of the pour almost without fail. Even the first time I participated in a pour, when I was unaware I would even be part of it.
I don’t know whether it happens because I am nervous that I will be on whilst pouring, as I know it causes me extra pain and tiredness which makes the pour harder and that anxiety brings it on. Or the extra manual work I do on the lead up to an iron pour triggers an early or late onset. I find that I get warning cramps and tiredness alongside the excitement of the lead up to a pour.
Up until now this has been an inconvenience but I feel that I have found a purpose in it and that it actually intensifies the rawness of my experience during an iron pour, heightening my relationship with the furnace and makes my role of running the furnace even more purposeful. I feel I have a deeper understanding of my connection to the furnace and the reproductive paradigm she carries. Two bleeding vessels; an ultimate female experience.
Documentation by Jet Shimidzu
