Art's Missing Period - Kotex

A detail from Artemisia Gentileschi's Baroque oil painting 'Judith Slaying Holofernes' (c.1614–1620), depicting Judith and her maidservant overpowering Holofernes, with a sword at his neck and blood-stained white sheets, painted with dramatic chiaroscuro lighting
A group of people photographing a large bold red and black outdoor advertisement reading 'Art's (Miss-ing) Period' for Kotex, with one person holding up a smartphone to capture the display. The crowd is seen from behind, wearing winter coats and backpacks.

For centuries, blood has been a powerful force in art - spilled across canvases, sculpted in stone, immortalised in masterpieces. Yet one type of blood has always been quietly edited out: menstrual. Kotex's "Art's Missing Period" campaign confronts this silence, asking a question that has gone unanswered for too long: why does society accept blood depicting violence, but not the blood of life and creation?

At the heart of the campaign is a short documentary by Emmy award-winning filmmaker Kathryn Everett, narrated by award-winning journalist and producer Noor Tagouri, which brings the voices of artists who have faced period stigma firsthand to the forefront.

Taking the conversation directly to the art world, out-of-home mobile billboards and wild postings were placed outside some of the most iconic institutions in the world, the Guggenheim, the MET, the Whitney Museum, MOMA and more - turning the streets themselves into an unmissable gallery.

And the exhibition doesn't stop there. QR codes on every placement invite audiences into a virtual gallery: virtualgallery.com/kotexartsmissingperiod, where over 40 pieces of period-themed art are on display for a full year, celebrating and supporting the artists, galleries and exhibitions brave enough to show what history has tried to hide.

A render of the Kotex 'Art's Missing Period' virtual gallery, featuring a dramatic red-lit corridor with a series of framed artworks displayed along the wall. Large bold text reading 'ART'S' dominates the left wall, with '(MISS –' pointing toward the gallery of period-themed artworks stretching into the distance
"A still from the Art's Missing Period documentary, featuring an artist holding and examining a framed abstract artwork created using menstrual fluid, with warm brown tones and gestural brushstrokes on textured paper, in a softly lit studio setting."
"Title card for the Kotex 'Art's Missing Period' campaign, displaying the bold red serif text 'ART'S (MISSING) PERIOD' over a darkened, atmospheric render of a virtual gallery space bathed in deep red light, with framed artworks visible in the background."
A Kotex 'Art's Missing Period' mobile billboard truck parked in Times Square, New York. The bold red and black display features the campaign title alongside 'Untitled' by artist Rafi Naqvi — an embroidery and beadwork piece on a sanitary pad — with a note reading 'Taken Down Due To Online Abuse 2023'. A QR code directs passersby to visit the virtual gallery. The billboard reads 'The Censored Art of Menstruation — Now on Display
"'Waxy Wave' by Jen Lewis, displayed as part of the Kotex Art's Missing Period virtual gallery. A close-up macro photograph of menstrual fluid, fresh water and salt water, creating an abstract organic form in deep crimson and red tones against a black background, surrounded by flowing red fluid imagery.