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“Consumed Monthly acts as a reflection on the growing pressure I feel by society to have children as I get older. As a woman entering her thirties, when I mention my disinterest in having children, reactions range from disbelief to actively horrified, as if I had just eaten a child. I feel myself slowly become a pariah of society, pitied and distrusted, every time the question arises. I’m unsure, and certainly unprepared, to have children anytime soon, but the constant questioning and prying of this choice applies an accumulating amount of pressure. Each menstruation internalizes this stress of time eating away at my chances to change my mind. Simultaneously, this choice is also the very thing that allows for my own continued personal growth. The consumption of each opportunity very literally sustains and nurtures me. This feeling is made real within this piece by the literal frying up of fetus from egg, at once hearty yet horrifying. The soft markings of graphite aim to mimic the intimacy of this question, that with accumulation, can give way to more grating patterns and lines.”