Chapter 3 Vagina

Dissecting The Western Woman Artist; An Artist's Dialogue by Amy E. Fraser

Chapter 3 Vagina

 Creativity And Feminine Multiplicity

     External investigation of the subject’s genitalia reveals no indication of recent abuse. However, for the sake of a thorough investigation, the genitalia can not be disregarded, especially because the subject came to us in the nude, leading this investigator to suspect the cause of art may be of a sexual nature.

     The vagina is the location for a woman’s creative, artistic self, our shadow self, our sexuality, the evil twin, feminine multiplicity, courage, strength, power, fluidity and femininity. The vagina is the most secret, personal and intimate part of a woman’s body. It is a source of mystery and intrigue.

     However, in Western culture, the vagina also evokes hate, fear and disgust as well as guilt. For many, the vagina represents darkness, ambiguity and evil. The vagina has been viewed as dirty, unattractive, rotten, disease-ridden and messy. It is seen as inferior to the penis, a void, penetrable and weak, to be conquered and filled by masculinity.

Labeling In An Attempt To Oppress

     Our culture has a long history of misogyny. For centuries, society has attempted to repress all of the positive aspects of the vagina and woman’s true nature. Western culture has labeled woman to fit into contrived conceptions of, variously, slut, mother, virgin, daughter, lover, mistress, bitch, wife and whore. Name calling extends far beyond positioning limited roles of femininity, it also includes a lengthy list of ridicule, diminishing woman’s sexuality into hateful and childish phrases. The vagina, removed from it’s bodily existence, has been labeled: Beaver, Black Hole, Box, Bug, Bush, Cabbage, Cave, Clam, Cleft, Crease, Crevice, Cunt, Ditch, Drain, Evil Eye, Fish, Flap, Hot Lips, Kitty, Long Eye, Man Trap, Monkey, Muff, Oyster, Punta, Pussy, Slit, Snatch, Thing, Tidbit, Tuna, Tunnel, Twat, Ugly, Vent, and Wound. Western society has used these labels and more to gain control over women and demythify the magical and spiritual qualities of woman and her vagina.

Traditional Western Views On Femininity

     Femininity has been traditionally described as receptive and nurturing, as exemplified by the receiving and gestating function of the vagina and womb. To be feminine is to be like a vagina, in contrast to the powerful, erect and controlling masculinity attributed to the phallus. Western woman is expected to be like a vessel, receiving, encompassing, enclosing, global, holistic, welcoming, sustaining, protecting, nourishing, conserving, embracing, containing, stable and inclusive. For many in Western culture, the vagina represents the ‘traditional’ feminine traits of passivity, tenderness and sensitivity. Western women are trained to be sympathetic, sentimental, delicate, tolerant, compassionate and easily molded. Traditionally, proper women have been expected to be silent, easily penetrated, soft, subdued and fertile.
 
     In Western culture, the female body has been negatively constructed as a leaking, lactating, discharging, menstruating, polluting, uncontrollable, seeping liquid that lacks the ability for ‘self containment’ (seen solely as a masculine trait). The soft wet interior of woman’s vagina is viewed in direct opposition to the solid ideal of man’s erect penis. Woman has been de-solidified and reduced to liquidity. Woman’s ability for transformation, change, mutation and flux has been used against her. The ‘uncontrollable’ changing form of the female that occurs during puberty and pregnancy has come to further illustrate the fluid nature of the woman and her vagina.

Reacting Against Tradition

     Some women view their vagina as a weapon to be used against men instead of allowing themselves to be victimized by Western culture’s perceptions of femininity and the vaginal female. There are many theories behind why some women use sexuality to obtain power and money. All women, consciously or not, have at one time or another used the powers of female sexuality to obtain masculine power. The most obvious explanation being that sex, or withholding sex, was traditionally the only power available to a woman in patriarchal society. There is the instinctual need for women to survive and prosper in a male dominated culture, regardless of the physical cost. Many women who use their sexuality in this manner were first victimized because of their beauty. Female attractiveness is a double edged sword. Although beauty is a clear asset in many circumstances, it can also be a woman’s worst enemy if she is not in control over the situation. Somehow external feminine beauty makes some men feel they must posses it, by any means, even through rape, ownership and abuse.

     Using one’s sexuality to obtain power and control is a dangerous business. The woman imagines herself as a duality, separated as two distinct entities. First, she is the exterior image, presented for consumption and seduction and second, she is the true interior self. This behavior can lead to feelings of isolation and loneliness for the woman who must maintain the facade. In the course of this action, some women lose touch with the real person within, and actually believe themselves to be the empty exterior they present to the world.

Woman And Evil

     In the traditional Western view, women have always been closely identified with evil. According to Christian legend, since the beginning of humanity, female bodies have harbored evil. Woman as body, as vessel, have been worshiped, coveted, feared and hated. Uncontrolled sexual passions of man have been blamed upon the seductive and insatiable desires of woman. As a result of this accusation, anything related to women was morally suspect. Women have had no voice in moral matters and they have been positioned as Christianity’s scapegoat for all evil, from the fabled beginning in the Garden of Eden.

Hidden Representations Of The Vagina

     In Western culture, women are encouraged to repress their true sexuality. Frequently, in conscious or unconscious artistic creation, the repressed side of the persona is depicted as an evil, separate being of the same sex. Historically, the mythological representations of this aspect of femininity have been represented as a devil, archenemy, temptress, fiend, double, a dark evil one of a pair of twin sisters or as a shadow. Other images that have traditionally represented the dual nature of woman or more literally, the vagina, have been doors, gates, Janus figures, the color black, roundness, the underworld, night time, death, closures, containers, burials and other places of death, the sun and moon in one image, clocks, holes, circles, wheels, caves, cages, boxes, traps, disks, claustrophobic spaces and contained images. In my own works, I reclaim and revitalize many of these traditional vaginal symbols, providing positive meaning for women in the 21st century.

Feminine Multiplicity

     The second self (described previously as the evil twin or shadow self) represents a sexual, creative being that has been repressed because patriarchal society has deemed this artistic, sexually aware, non-conforming self, as threatening to society. In the past, Western women have been forced to actively participate in the repression of this other half of their existence, by not allowing their artistic selves to function in society. Women have buried this part of themselves for fear of what it might reveal and for what Western culture’s punishment might be.

     The artistic, sexual, shadow self is not evil, but a positive force, encouraging creativity, evolution and transcendence of Western culture’s limiting and oppressive roles. She is the part of our self engaged in a crucial quest for truth, spiritual illumination and primal knowledge. This aspect of our being insists on telling the truth while revealing our untamed sexual instinctive nature. She wants to live and be recognized, not be repressed and ignored. She embraces her embodiment, celebrates honesty and will bow to no patriarchal God. She is open, sincere, and willing to take risks. She is the part of ourselves that is independent, unique and refuses cultural limits, containment and protection.

     Feminine multiplicity is expressed in my works whenever there are twins, triplets, quadruplets, etc. I include the multiple aspect of our sexuality through duplicating or patterning the female figure. Often, I incorporate repetition of the same figure, in the same pose, at different distances or groupings, to express multiplicity of the individual. Even though the exterior of the woman remains relatively similar, her place or moment in time may differ, and her thoughts, feelings and emotions may be separate from the identical image before her. Here again, I reinterpret a traditional (negative) vaginal concept and infuse it with new positive meaning for a 21st century audience.

The Vagina In Relation To My Own Art

     I deeply respect and celebrate all aspects of female sexuality. However, I choose not to emphasize or blatantly display the vagina in the majority of my works because of this culture’s history of misogyny. Feminists of the 70’s attempted to construct a new form of femininity and female power through the use of vaginal imagery, but, unfortunately, the attempt had poor results and was even considered pornographic by many. Those opposed to the vaginal imagery felt that it reduced women’s bodies to the status of purely sexual objects and reduced the notion of women’s sexuality to penetration. They also felt the female genital images diminished and fragmented women’s sexuality and her accomplishments. In order to avoid similar misconceptions and unnecessary controversy that can take away from the true meaning of my works, I try to avoid fragmented vaginal representations.

     Despite vaginal art’s lack of public acceptance, I still strongly agree with the overall intent of the vaginal artists. I believe that everything I think, do and create is affected by my existence as female. In many ways I see and experience the world from a vaginal perspective, therefore, I am affected by how others conceive of the vagina. As both a woman and an artist, I feel it is my right and obligation to help change how the Western world perceives female genitalia. I feel the vagina is a beautiful part of the female anatomy and that it deserves to be celebrated. However, I also believe it’s usefulness in art history as a single statement has passed. My views on women focus on the whole of our embodiment. I believe all aspects of our corporeality are of equal importance and we should celebrate them all. My goal is to work against fragmentation and body part objectification. I choose to discuss the significance of certain fragments in an attempt to tackle deeper issues while maintaining an ongoing awareness of the whole female.

     Representing the vagina symbolically should not lessen its significance or intent in my work. I feel I can acknowledge and celebrate this aspect of our female anatomy without blatantly exposing it. I do not avoid representing the vagina, however I do choose not to exaggerate it in the same way in which I exaggerate other aspects of the female body. This is both an aesthetic choice as well as a desire to avoid a misreading of my works.

     For me, the act of painting is as intimate and personal as the processes of the vagina. I believe creating is a matter of discharging the negative and encompassing the positive. Painting is a private and satisfying way to purge pent up emotions and regain a sense of balance. Creating is a way to be in touch with my whole being. My work expresses a purely female perspective in a way that is respectable and cannot be disregarded as inferior because of my gender.

     In many ways the actual structure of my paintings is vaginal. Compositions are often central and oval and the layers of imagery unfold upon on another similar to the overlapping folds of the vagina. My subject matter, although not blatantly vaginal is often equally taboo and disturbing to the average Western viewer. I confront issues most would prefer to keep hidden, similar to those aspects of themselves or their bodies they would prefer to ignore. Also, like the vagina, my works are often seen as unattractive and offensive. It takes an open mind to accept and appreciate the more discreet aspects of our embodiment.

     Many of the paintings included on AEFraser.com are prime examples of vaginal concepts for a variety of reasons. For instance, Entangled Void, Cloaked Fear, Guardians, Hatchery, Frozen Anticipation, Barren Space, Awakening, Effusion and Cerebral Gathering are clear cut examples of ‘feminine multiplicity’. The figures in Entangled Void and Frozen Anticipation have central egg-shaped openings that could be interpreted as vaginal. Cloaked Fear’s labial, cave-like structure with it’s dark red interior is an excellent example of the more traditional vaginal imagery. In Guardians, the structure the figures are sitting on is a red, multi-layered hole in the earth, easily interpreted as a vagina. Likewise, Hatchery, Awakening and Cerebral Gathering depict similar pit-like structures. In Hatchery, the black interior of the fish’s mouth (swallowing the serpent) is reminiscent of Western culture’s subconscious vaginal fears. Effusion provides another penetrating example with the hole and serpent. Accusation depicts bloody vagina-like holes in the earth and red cracked openings on the eggs. Prognosticator’s vaginal concepts, though less obvious and more traditional, are expressed through the use of the disk and the overall representation of a red hell or the underworld. Many more vaginal interpretations can be made based on these painting examples, as well as from the lists provided previously in this chapter.  

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      For more Art and Information on Amy E. Fraser go to Aefraser.com All images and text from "Dissecting The Western Woman Artist: An Artist's Dialogue" copyright Amy E. Fraser. All rights reserved. Amy E. Fraser's Master's Thesis. Original Publication by Dartmouth College 2000.