THE VAGINA PROJECT
The Vagina Project aims to force a confrontation between the public and the feminine---nobody can stop people from tagging penises everywhere, but we can at least even out the playing field. It aims to reclaim space, to be a retaliation and a rebellion. We will not hide. We will not shrink. VAGINAS FOR EVERYONE!
*Vagina stickers are available for purchase from the artist. Requests and images of found/placed vagina stickers can be sent to alex.cuunjieng@gmail.com.
*Vagina stickers are available for purchase from the artist. Requests and images of found/placed vagina stickers can be sent to alex.cuunjieng@gmail.com.
Gallery
Do you have pictures of places you've put up/seen the vagina stickers? Send them to me via email along with any info you would like to have in the caption! (eg.: location, date, etc)
It all began with waiting for a bus. While I was sitting at a bus stop with my brother one summer day, I noticed penis graffiti tags all over our tiny bench space, and was befuddled! I turned to my brother and I said “Why is it always penises? There is so much to draw in the world, and if it’s about genitals, why not a vagina?” My brother jokingly suggested that maybe vaginas were just harder to draw. To which I thought challenge accepted. I drew and drew and drew until I discovered a vagina drawing so simple it can be done without lifting the pen.
The more accurate answer to my puzzlements is probably that the vagina—and extending to the feminine—holds a different place in people’s minds, one where they are simultaneously less understood and more pigeonholed, simultaneously fetishized and avoided*. If this is the case, then the vagina pattern can participate in addressing this position: I turned them into stickers so that they could be dispersed and placed anywhere. As they become noticed by a larger audience, more people will have to confront them along with this uncomfortable feeling of threat. And, seeing how simple they can be to draw, perhaps more people will start drawing them in public spaces too. Further, if tagging is a way to claim a space, then vagina stickers could be a way to reclaim space.
*much of my thoughts regarding this is influenced by abject theory, but it's too big a concept for me to discuss here. Instead you can follow these links for some background info.
The more accurate answer to my puzzlements is probably that the vagina—and extending to the feminine—holds a different place in people’s minds, one where they are simultaneously less understood and more pigeonholed, simultaneously fetishized and avoided*. If this is the case, then the vagina pattern can participate in addressing this position: I turned them into stickers so that they could be dispersed and placed anywhere. As they become noticed by a larger audience, more people will have to confront them along with this uncomfortable feeling of threat. And, seeing how simple they can be to draw, perhaps more people will start drawing them in public spaces too. Further, if tagging is a way to claim a space, then vagina stickers could be a way to reclaim space.
*much of my thoughts regarding this is influenced by abject theory, but it's too big a concept for me to discuss here. Instead you can follow these links for some background info.
