News
Page 8
Street Roots • September 1-7, 2017
Street Roots • September 1 -7, 2017
News
Page 9
Photographer
Arkady Brown,
front, embraces
a participant o f
The Vulva A rt
Project,
A rkady Brown is photographing the vulvas o f dozens o f women who are participating in The Vulva A r t Project. The anonymous photographs will be revealed early next year.
NO MORE SHAME
Photographer Arkady Brown believes unhealthy body image starts with the
vulva. The Vulva A rt Project aims to heal, empower and end the stigma.
"Il's from a
very young age,
when yon don't
teach a child
about this part
of their body,
to love It and
that It's sacred,
It sets us up to
look at the rest
of our body In a
very judgmental
way-"
ARKADY BROW»,
CREATOR OF
THE V U L V A A R T PROJECT.
BY SARAH HANSELL
STAFF WRITER
A
rkady Brown, a fine-art boudoir
/ % photographer, has set out to create a
X ^ p r o je c t that rejects body shame and
encourages women to love and know about
their bodies - especially their vulvas.
The Vulva Art Project grew from a
conversation between Brown and a friend
who would become the first project
participant, Sophia Treyger. Brown was
photographing Treyger for a boudoir shoot,
and Treyger said she would like to have her
vulva photographed. Brown took that idea
and grew it into The Vulva Art P roject
For Brown, who has h er own personal
history with body shame and eating
disorders, this project is about women
moving toward healing, empowerment and
self-love, and she views the vulva as a point
of origin for a lot of body shame.
“I feel like, fot many women,-we are not
taught about our vulvas and how to love
them,” she said./Sham e starts very young
with that part of the body with lack of
education. My m other — it’s not her fault;
it’s just generational — she didn’t teach me
about that part of my body; she didn’t tell
me to explore that part of my body. So I
grew up knowing that this p art of my body
looks funny, it smells, it bleeds, all these
different things.
“So it’s from a very young age, when you
don’t teach a child about this part of their
body, to love it and that it’s sacred, it sets us
up to look at the rest of our body in a very
judgmental way. Like well, one lip is longer
than the other, I have a belly, one boob is
smaller than the other, it just goes on from
there.”
The first step was to recruit women, so
Brown posted about the project on
Facebook. The positive response was
overwhelming. Brown was able to sign up
over 40 women, and each woman’s story was
different.
A woman who asked to only be identified
as Liebe is one of the project participants.
She is the survivor of a 16-year abusive
marriage, in which she was sexually
controlled and repressed. She was shamed
for wearing anything form-fitting or at all
revealing, and was made to wear clothes
that were five sizes too big.
“I was sexually repressed, so this means a
lot to me, maybe a lot more than to, a woman
who grew up free in herself,” said Liebe.
“Because I wasn’t free in myself. I didn’t feel
right about it, there was no freedom there
for me.”
Healing from that experience has been a
multilayered process to r Liebe, and having
her vulva photographed for this-project was
an important part of i t
“Doing something like this, it’s very
healing for me to be able to show the world
this part of my body,” lie b e said. “It’s
healing for me because I can do it without
shame now.”
Some of the women who participated in
the project were like Treyger — comfortable
with their bodies and their sexuality, and,
eager to be photographed. Others were n o t
One 40-year-old woman Brown photographed
hadn’t looked at her vulva until age 38.
Some, like Liebe, had experienced physical
or sexual trauma.
Brown wanted to create an intentional
environment that held space for women who
might have those experiences, so she
brought in Treyger, who is a trained
therapist and a sex and intimacy coach, to
be present at the shoots as an emotional
support
“It was really important for me to have
someone there during all the sessions that
Arkady Brown, left, is the creator o f The Vulva A rt Project. Sophia Treyger is an intimacy coach who provides emotional support a t the photo shoots.
can be that person, because it is such an
intimate thing; it is triggering and
emotional, ” Brown said.
The women waited to be photographed
together in a lounge with food, drink and
their children invited. As they waited, they
shared their experiences, supported one *
another, and exchanged numbers. The
actual photography session was only one to
two minutes per woman, but many women
described it as a freeing experience.
“I saw how much it really allowed these
women to own their bodies and to own their
experience,'and have it not be the only time,
they’re opening their legs is to have sex or
to give birth or to have a medical
procedure,” said Jet Eveleth, the project’s
videographer and a project participant “It
was to open their legs just for fun. And
anytime I think that something’s fun, there’s
freedom in i t And so we’re connecting
freedom now with the human body.”
There is one experience that is
conspicuously absent from this project —
that of trans people.
“I know that transgender men and
women, they have a very different story
around their vulva and what it means to
them, especially if they’ve had to buy i t and
get surgery for it,” Brown said. “That’s a
huge story, and I’d love to have that
represented.”
However, Brown hasn’t had any response
from trans folks. One specific challenge, she
said, is that she would need multiple people
from that community so that they could
remain anonymous.
“I have a couple women of color who are
very- distinct shades, and I’ve had to tell
them, ‘Just so you know, you’re going to be
recognized,’” Brown said. “And so they have
to be OK with th a t There are a couple
redheads. They’re going to be noticed.
There’s a couple women who are very .
blonde. They’re going to stand o u t”
The biggest challenge The Vulva Art
Project has dealt with so far is finding
funding and an exhibition space. Brown was
surprised when many venues turned h e r .
down because they said the project was too
controversial, too sexual, inappropriate for
children or pornographic.
The project did finally find a venue; the
Clinton Street Theater will host a one-day
event in February that will begin with an
hour for the participants of the project only
and VIP ticket holders, as it will be the first
time the participants are seeing the photos
of themselves. The event will also include a
screening of a documentary about the
process, and potentially personal stories
from participants..
Meanwhile, Brown and the other
participants continue to raise funds for the
exhibition. They’ve been turned down for
grants they’ve applied fon
“The only reason why every part of our
body is controversial and a distraction is
because it’s been over-sexualized, and that’s
all. it’s viewed for, is sex. And damn it, I want
that to change,” Brown said. “In a society
where a president is allowed to say/‘Grab
’em by the pussy,’ we have to take that
back.”
Taking that back often includes parents
teaching their children to love, respect and
know their bodies,
“The mothers and mothers-to-be who are
being photographed, who are teaching their
daughters to love themselves, that’s the
healing part,” Treyger said. “That is the
most im portant They’re leaving this self-
love legacy.”
A rkady Brown is a freelance photographer
whose work has appeared in Street Roots.
IF YOU GO
What: The Vulva Art Project
Reveal
Where: Clinton Street
Theater, 2522 SE Clinton
Street, Portland
When: Feb. 17
Tickets: Information will be
announced later.