25/07/15
Display: Raising the Skirt
The tradition of ‘raising the skirt’ has its roots as
far back as in Ancient Greece. In global folklore, the revelation of a woman’s
genitals – her cunt – has been thought to calm the forces of nature and drive
away evil spirits. It is common, in Britain, to see sheela-na-gigs (stone
carvings of females with exaggerated vulva) above church doorways for precisely
these reasons.
For Nicola Canavan, an artist whose work is informed
by research into sociological histories of women, abjection and otherness, reclaiming
the cunt is a powerful tool. “Wikipedia describes the cunt as ‘as vulgar term
for female genitalia’,” she
explains. “But the word ‘cunt’ wasn’t always a derogatory term. It once meant
‘skin’, ‘woman’, ‘femininity’ or, more commonly, ‘the female genitals’. The
word ‘cunt’ as a derogatory term was born from misogyny, oppression and the
fear of female sexuality.”
In 2014, having lived with years of shame about her
own body – and vulva – put on her by sexual partners, Canavan initiated the
Raising the Skirt project, funded by the Live Art Development Agency. “I wanted
a place that people of all genders could go to learn about the cunt and be
reminded that we are all different and that it is something to celebrate.”
She put out a call for workshop participants who wished
to reclaim – or claim –their cunts, break down female body stereotypes and open
up a dialogue around the act of raising the skirt. Activities included physical
actions, getting participants to draw their cunts, and sharing of personal experiences.
A live performance was also held – ‘We Unite in Her Honour’ – where participants
raised their skirts and used their voices to unite their individual bodies into
one collective body or ‘social cunt’. This summer saw a second series of
workshops, this time based more on acts of body kindness and breaking down the
fears that we all have about our bodies.
The Raising the Skirt website unsurprisingly has a
large research aspect to it and Canavan is asking for contributions including
photographs of vulvas and pubic hair, papers, articles, poetry and memoirs. She
will be launching a funding campaign later this year and hopes to create a
publication for release by the end of 2017. “My dream,” she says, “is to carry
out the workshop in every country across the world.”
Despite being told by some that she is “sinning and
going to hell,” Canavan believes that the overwhelmingly positive – and
international – response to the project speaks for itself. “We know it is
important,” she says. “I
want to help women shed some of their fears so that they can face each day with
full agency.”
Photographs by Dawn Felicia Knox
To see this feature in full, please see the August 2015 print issue of DIVA magazine