In Plain Sight: Unseen. is a site-specific collaborative project investigating female ageing and menopause. Beverley Carruthers and Jane woollatt draw on folklore, mythology and contemporary art practices. Over the last decade they have met on Two Tree Island, an intertidal space in the Thames Estuary, creating impromptu performances to an accidental audience. They have embodied Fury, Loss, Protest and Kinship. Two Tree Island has two guardians who walk, talk and protect her from harm.

Why menopause?

Menopause is a stage in our lives that goes without ceremony. It is a communal moral outrage of the way women are treated by society, particularly at this important stage of our lives, that has led us to take action. This outrage motivates us to change the narrative and make us active again in our own stories.

Menopause comes as a shock to many of us. Often being misdiagnosed my medical professionals not trained to recognise the symptoms and advising women badly. Leaving some women lost and afraid of what they are experiencing, leading to increased presentations of depression and anxiety. For others it is a time of great release from the confines of the fertile woman that has defined them. This freedom enables new creative energies and new voices to be heard. For all though, it is a time of loss and undoing. And with loss comes grief. Rituals are a way of helping us through our grief. Read More