Scarlet Sea
One single napkin can take 300-500 years before it decomposes, and a woman disposes thousands of menstrual products in her lifetime.
This contributes to the microplastics overwhelming our landfills and our environment, but it is also inextricably linked to period poverty, which in itself a product of centuries of shame and stigma for something biologically normal.
Scarlet Sea is Tabuena's attempt to understand her mother's personal nuances and medical conditions, and they inform her reluctance to transition to sustainable menstrual products, which ultimately reveals our society's deep relationship and incurred dependence on plastic.
This is Jazmin Domingo Tabuena's output for British Embassy Manila and Emerging Islands' Plastic Passages Photography Workshop with Mandy Barker and Nat Geo Explorer Hannah Reyes Morales for the Follow the Water Exhibit on Earth Day, April 22, 2022 in San Juan, La Union, Philippines.
