Menos Pausa

Menos Pausa is a pun on the word menopause in Portuguese - Menopausa. “Menos” means less and “Pausa” means pause. The twist gives a new meaning to this phase and expresses my opinion contrary to all the stereotypes created around a woman over 50, reinforcing that we don't need to pause anything at this point in our lives. The work reflects on the physical and psychological aspects that women go through when their fertility naturally comes to an end.

According to figures released by the WHO (World Health Organization), by 2030, there will be 1 billion women going through menopause.The first signs of menopause can be noticed from the age of 40, in the so-called climacteric period, the months or years preceding the actual menopause that is the last menstrual cycle. The phase, between climacteric, pre-menopause and post-menopause, can last from 10 to 30 years. That is, 1/3 of a woman's life is lived within this process.

I started this project in 2019 when appeared the first signs that I was entering my climacteric phase. I was 49 years old at the time.Amidst all the usual symptoms of the period, such as insomnia, hot flashes, irritability, and weight gain, several questions were arising. Instinctively I photographed my last cycles, still not knowing what I was going to do with that material, perhaps in an attempt to save the last breaths of my fertility. During all this time I kept reflecting on the meaning of this new phase of my life. Researching the subject and interviewing other women I was confronted with diverse experiences, but what intrigued me the most is how it is still a sensitive subject in most cultures.

“ For me in a year, menopause set in for good, I didn't menstruate anymore. It was a relief and, I repeat, a joy “ told me an old friend. "I found it a boring and uncomfortable process, in addition to having been a remarkable process as an entry point in the aging process “ said an interviewed woman and another shared "I myself at the time couldn't talk to my boyfriend about it, it was like saying - I’ve become an old woman ! "

The project Menos Pausa then is an autobiographical visual journal to discuss menopause and reflect on how society embraces this phase that inevitably all of us that reach 50 years will go through. My purpose is to discuss the theme with lightness, naturalness, and even some humor since it is still surprisingly treated as taboo in many countries.

The work is composed of photographs either solo images as well as diptychs, watercolors and prints combined with photographs, and objects made by macro images and small acrylic absorbents. Extracts from the interviews are meant to be shown alongside the images.