ONE SMALL SEED MAGAZINE Issue #28 Digital 03 | Page 35

British artist Jamie McCartney embarked on
a project in 2009 to change female body
perceptions through art! The final product
of ‘The Great Wall of Vagina’ includes
plastercasts of 400 women’s vulva’s (the
more accurate anatomical name for the
external genital female organs). McCartney
said that ‘For many women their genital
appearance is a source of anxiety and I
was in a unique position to do something
about that’.
Reactions from the participants, varying from
18-76 years old, were positive, including this
comment: ‘Looking at it from a cast I was
quietly surprised. I thought it was beautiful…
I was really pleased with it’.
one small seed interviewed McCartney in
2011, in our article ‘The Great Wall of Vagina,’
that continues to receive feedback today.
Jenna Saras commented on our facebook
page saying that: ‘I think the female form is
an art on its own, and considering that there
are some women out there that have never
seen their own works of art, I’d say this is a
good thing’. Others, such as Rudi Stroebel,
would have preferred not to see the artwork
at all: ‘I just threw up… in my mouth… a little
bit!’

‘I JUST THREW UP…
IN MY MOUTH…
A LITTLE BIT!’

The idea that there are some women out
there who haven’t seen their vagina’s up
close and personally, suggests that despite
the media’s desensitization of the vagina,
women (and men) haven’t caught up yet.
Not all of them anyway…
Luxemburg-based
artist
Deborah
De
Robertis, spread her legs and held open her
vulva at the Musée D’Orsay in Paris, June
2014. De Robertis sat under the controversial
19th century painting titled ‘The Origin of
the World’ by Gustave Courbet showing a
woman’s vagina and abdomen. Why? Was
this just a provocation to attract attention, or
a defiant act disguised as art?
In De Robertis’ own words: ‘What I did is not
an impulsive act. It is very thought-through.’
She further clarified that she is challenging the
role that confidence plays in connection with
the naked female body, or the representation
of it.
This article will probably reach more people
on our social media platforms than any other
article in this magazine. You are reading this,
(if you hung around after figuring out that the
article is really about), because we stuck the
word ‘vagina’ in the title. Is anything sacred
anymore? Are there any shock tactics left out
there? Use the comment box below to voice
your opinions…