Back Arrow Icon

Stained Underwear

A real-time data visualization that sheds light on the amount of time and labor that goes into period care.
Awards
'Data Is Art' Prize by University of Virginia
Exhibitions
UVA Data Science Building
Collaborators
Documentation
Github (Code, Files, Instructions)
Year
2024
Concept
Stained Underwear is a kinetic sculpture that sheds light on the stigmatized and under-discussed topic of period care.

Real-time period data - the time and effort Pepi spent on period care each day during their fifteen day long period - is visualized by a robot arm scrubbing their period-stained underwear.

By bringing period data from behind closed doors into public spaces, we want to reclaim the power of the body, flesh, and blood against the existing patriarchal structures of Period Tax, and the lack of free access to menstrual products.
Photograph of Ceramic Sink with 3D printed Robot arm
Photograph of 3D printed robot arm
Photograph of ceramic sink with 3D printed faucet
Iterations
You are currently looking at Version 2 of Stained Underwear, which was specifically designed for the UVA Data Is Art competition. Explore the original prototype Version 1  below.
The Data
Stained Underwear uses Pepi's real-time period data: the number of times, and the dates on which they scrubbed their period stained underwear during a 15-day long period. You can find the original data on Github.  
Photograph of wooden box with electronic components and wires inside.
Photograph of  wooden box with  an Arduino mounted inside
Data Is Art Award
Version Two of Stained Underwear received the Grand Prize in the 2024 Data Is Art Awarhosted by the University of Virginia. Stained Underwear is exhibited in the new data science building at UVA from April to December 2024.  
Photograph of University of Virginia student looking at Stained Underwear project.
Photograph of Pepi and Julia holding their certificates next to head of UVA Data Science
Making-Of
Art is for sharing! All building instructions, circuit diagrams, code, and 3D models can be found on our Github. Please reach out if you have any questions or suggestions on how to further improve the project.
Stained Underwear Thumbnail
... first prototype of the robotic arm
Photograph of Julia in her school's woodshop pointing at the finished wooden box.
... crafting the wooden base in our wood shop
Photograph of wooden lid that has many electronic components attached to it.
... screwing down the electronics to the wooden box
Photograph of super messy apartment with packaging materials and a 3D printer on the floor.
... packing up the project for shipping to UVA