Fresh Blood is a video with sound, in colour, lasting 11 minutes. It was shot in 1983 during an eponymous performance by Carolee Schneemann at the University of Iowa’s theatre festival.

On a stage, slides are projected onto two separate screens. A pre-recorded soundtrack of rain or hammer blows accompanies two performers. Schneemann, dressed in red, manipulates an umbrella (which is also red) in front of projected images: abstract images, plant images, images of art works or archaeology.

She delivers a speech about blood, and more specifically, menstrual blood. She establishes a parallel between the shape of the umbrella that she is holding and that of the vagina. The second performer, a black woman, appears several times in different costumes: as a nurse or a judge. She is Schneemann’s alter ego.

The subheading of the video “A Dream Morphology” originates from a dream Carolee Schneemann had had, based on an umbrella and a bouquet of dried flowers. When she asked herself what the common factor of these seemingly disparate elements might be, she noted that they formed a V-shape, recalling the shape of the vagina.

Schneemann articulates her discourse around the taboos that men associate with the vagina, and more specifically around the menstrual cycle. She attempts to counter these with a positive view of the female body, to establish it as a melting pot of creativity.

Laetitia Rouiller