F irst things first: the documentary Vaginas Channel 4 was not about vaginas — it was about vulvas. They were photographed up close and personal by the artist Laura Dodsworth with their owners invited to sit, look and talk about them afterwards as part of a project that follows on from similar ones she has done involving breasts and penises separately, for the avoidance of doubt. Presumably the powers that be thought calling it Vulvas would lead too many unsuspecting viewers to settle down in anticipation of a programme about the history of Swedish engineering. It was not. It did what it should have said on the tin. My mother was a gynaecologist for nearly 40 years and I now feel like the Queen Mother felt about the bombed-out East End after Buckingham Palace was hit; I can look her in the eye. My labiaversity is symptomatic of a world in which, as the various women who took part noted, its physical appearance and makeup is rarely discussed.
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By Artspace Editors. But what about those works whose subjects slid right past first base and sometimes even second and third? C— A. Image courtesy of the Art Insitute of Chicago. The Moche civilization dominated the arid north coast of Peru from around the first to the eighth century AD. Its peoples harnessed the waters of the Andes to create a sophisticated culture with a highly stratified urban society centered on ceremonial pyramid complexes called huacas. Their material culture includes exquisitely crafted textiles, ornamental objects in gold and semi-precious stones, wall paintings, tattooed mummies, and ceramics. The ceramics preserve images of war and daily activities such as weaving, and a group of at least vessels carries explicitly sexual images in the form of three-dimensional sculptures on top of or as part of the pot. The vessels are always functional, with a hollow body to hold liquids and a pouring spout, often in the form of a phallus. Sodomy, fellatio and masturbation are most frequently represented; cunnilingus is never found, and examples of penile penetration of the vagina are so rare as to be virtually absent.
The vagina and vulva have been depicted in art from prehistory to the contemporary art era of the 21st century. Visual art forms representing the female genitals encompass two-dimensional e. As long ago as 35, years ago, people sculpted Venus figurines that exaggerated the abdomen , hips , breasts , thighs , or vulva. In , Gustave Courbet painted a picture of a nude woman which depicted the female genitals, entitled " The Origin of the World ".
