Petra Mattheis
Petra Mattheis (born 1967 in Moers) is a German Artist und Photographer. She became known for her artistic engagement with the topic menstruation.
Petra Mattheis  | |
|---|---|
![]() Petra Mattheis, Leipzig, Germany, 2017  | |
| Born | Moers, Germany  | 
| Nationality | German | 
| Education | Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig | 
Biography
    
Mattheis studied communications design at the University of Applied Sciences Wiesbaden and graduated in 1994 with a diploma. She studied Fine Arts at the Akademie für Bildende Künste Mainz from 2002 to 2006 and finished with a diploma as well. From 2007 bis 2009 she was a student in the master class of Joachim Blank at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig.[1][2]
Works
    
With her website Become A Menstruator[3] as well as with installations and prints, Mattheis investigates menstruation in an artistic, playful approach, questions cultural-historical developments and today's way of dealing with one's own body in our society.[4] Each motif of the blood-red prints in her series BAM – Become a Menstruator corresponds to a fertile year in the life of the artist. While each print is a handmaid original, the size of the edition corresponds with the sum of the periods she had during this year. Thus, Mattheis not only addresses a taboo,[5] her works also receive an autobiographical character.[6]
Solo exhibitions
    
- 2006: Überwiegend Schwarz auf Weiß, Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden[7]
 - 2009: Pulsierender Pfirsich, Kuhturm, Leipzig[8]
 - 2011: Hinter den Worten, Gallery Queen Anne, Tapetenwerk, Leipzig[9][10]
 - 2015: Arts and Crafts Week at Panty Camp, Gallery The Grass is Greener, Leipzig[11][12]
 - 2017: Riding the Red Tide, Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig[13]
 - 2018: Become a Menstruator Booth, Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig[14]
 - 2019: Shark Weeks, Atelierfrankfurt, Frankfurt[15]
 
Selected group exhibitions
    
    
Awards and scholarships
    
- 2016: Projektstipendium des Landes Rheinland-Pfalz[2]
 
Publications
    
- Nassauischer Kunstverein e.V.: Petra Mattheis und Ilka Meyer. Catalog of the exhibition Zwischen – Petra Mattheis, Ilka Meyer, 9 May to 13 June and 29 June to 11 July 2004; Part of the exhibition series Perspektiven der Zukunft. With contributions by Christian Rabanus, Botho Strauß and Ilka Meyer. NKV, Wiesbaden 2004
 
References
    
- Ausgezeichnete Dissertationen 2006/2007 Archived 14 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, (PDF) S. 48 f.
 - Balmoral- und Landesstipendiatinnen und -Stipendiaten 2016
 - Become A Menstruator, becomeamenstruator.org, 2015
 - Tobias Maier: Jawohl, Mann! Menstruation und Mythos: Petra Mattheis stellt blutrote Prints von Haien, Bären und Tampons aus, der Freitag, 18. Juli 2015
 - Okka Rohd: Menstruation: Das rote Tuch, Mai 2016
 - Caroline Ausserer: Der Werwolf in mir, Interview with Petra Mattheis, 22. Juli 2015
 - Petra Mattheis / Mainly black on white, Nassauischen Kunstverein Wiesbaden, 21 and 22 December 2006
 - Kuhturm Leipzig
 - Portfolio Petra Mattheis, Gallery Queen Anne, 21 June 2011
 - Poetisches Forum – Hinter den Worten – Petra Mattheis, 20 August 2011
 - Petra Mattheis: »Arts & Crafts Week at Panty Camp«, Gallery The Grass is Greener, 20 June to 25 July 2015
 - »Become a Menstruator«, Petra Mattheis in conversation with Mithu Sanyal, Gallery The Grass is Greener
 - Riding the Red Tide, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig
 - Become a Menstruator Booth, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig
 - Shark Weeks, Atelierfrankfurt
 - Zwischen, Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden
 - Group Show: The Hatchery: East of Fresno, Artslant, 24 September 2011
 - Schläft ein Lied in allen Dingen, Kunstverein Bellevue-Saal, 3 to 27 May 2012
 
External links
    
- Official Website of Petra Mattheis
 - Project Become A Menstruator
 - Project Wunderwesten
 
