FROM CUP TO DISH: BIOPRINTING &
MENSTRUAL STEM CELL CULTURE

2022

This project stems from an invitation to collaborate with scientists at a Montreal-based bioengineering research laboratory, where Hunter undertook a focused investigation into 3D bioprinting using her own menstrual cells. Working with a high-end CELLINK bioprinter, she developed prototypes of menstrual cups as anatomical scaffolds for the cultivation of the cells. This research extended her doctoral work in tissue engineering with menstrual fluid, while opening a new line of inquiry into the symbolic and biological potential of menstrual architectures.

Experimental procedures included flow cytometry to identify and characterize cell populations isolated from her menstrual fluid, alongside fluorescent microscopy and live cell imaging to verify experimental outcomes. Together, these methods reflect a rigorous and embodied approach to self-directed biolab research. Drawing on over a decade of experience with bioengineering methods in art, WhiteFeather directed the experiment design, technical experimentation and the conceptual framework of the project.

Dr. Hunter's approach positions the menstruating body as a generative site for scientific innovation, feminist resistance, and cultural reclamation. Rather than treating biotechnology as a tool of external control, the work reclaims it as a mode of self-directed inquiry and embodied autonomy.

Due to contractual non-disclosure requirements imposed by the host institution, the scientific collaborators involved in this research cannot be publicly named. Their support was nonetheless integral to the technical development of this work.

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Funded by the Canada Council for the Arts and CALQ, and conducted as an independent scientific investigation, this work laid the groundwork for the internationally recognized project Sentient Clit: The Pussification of Biotech, co-created with Jiabao Li. Presented globally, the project received a 2024 Ars Electronica S+T+ARTS Prize jury nomination for its bold fusion of speculative biotechnology and technofeminist critique.