Sanitary Secrets. 100 pad ads over 100 years.

This exhibition of ‘pad ads’ from Australian women’s magazines has been curated to question how graphic design can perpetuate or diminish the stigma surrounding periods. One hundred ‘pad ads’ from 1920 to 2020 will lead the audience to question the role of the designer in creating a shameful or liberating world for consumers. Visual communicators have an ethical obligation to not only design the world they want but to design a world for marginalised voices. This Melbourne Design Week event encourages designers to question and address harmful norms in their work. It also encourages the public to think about their attitudes towards periods by questioning feelings of shame and secretive behaviours. Opening night included a discussion with Jamal Hakim and designers Amber Bonney and Reg Abos and performance from drag queen Bae L'Amour.