The flower-headed womxn first embraces nature and then the womxn around her. It is about feeling connected to nature and being solidated by others in PMS. It pays homage to Georgia O'Keeffe's flowers.

As part of the PMS project, I collaborated with GIPHY Arts and a group of talented animation artists to create a multi-episode series exploring different aspects of premenstrual syndrome. In the fourth episode, "in harmony", my animated work is featured alongside contributions from 2 other artists.

"in harmony" focuses on the positive aspects such as ephemerality, increased perception of surroundings, euphoria, and being collective in nature. Created by Kylie Millward, Sedef Ertem and Meltem Şahin.

The process of creating animation for the PMS x GIPHY project involves the utilization of physical papers filled with mono-print drawings, despite the ultimate digital output. To create each second of cel animation, 12 drawings are required, resulting in a cumulative physical space of 2520 x 297 mm when arranged together, given that each drawing is A4-sized at 210 x 297 mm. As such, the physical space occupied by the drawings is proportional to the duration of the animated sequence, whereby one second equals 2520 x 297 mm in space. The ability to manipulate the physical space represented by each drawing and synthesize it with others to generate the illusion of movement and passage of time in the final animation is indeed a remarkable phenomenon, that always fascinates me.

PMS x GIPHY Arts brings together 12 artists around the world to create a dialogue on the premenstrual syndrome that has been declared “taboo” or “unreal” for years.

Project Team: Meltem Şahin - artist, project manager Evrim Karacan - coordination, communication Mert Kocadayı - sound designer Special thanks to Elifcan Şahan