Vulva Portrait Experience and Testimony

Model’s Reflections – “Creation”

Age
30

Ethnicity
French

Have you given birth vaginally?
No

Model’s Story

From discovering masturbation as a teenager but not knowing what it is, keeping it secret and developing a form of shame about it, to hearing other people making love making me so uncomfortable, to a rocky first relationship with someone with more experience, to my first candida colonisation that triggered dislike, fear, and shame toward my vulva and vagina, to lack of attention, inner child trauma, and young sexual life errors. I am finally coming back to my femininity, its source rooted in my body, learning to take care of it and to honour it as sacred wisdom, slowly learning to receive pleasure and appreciate it.

Why did you choose to get art of your vulva?

I had no idea about doing it before you opened my eyes to the beauty it is and the wisdom it holds. I thought being able to look at it from another angle and with different colours, as well as a piece of art, mother nature art would help me reconcile with that part of my body

What was your relationship with your vulva/body before the artwork?

I choose to get the art of my vulva because it is a part of my body with which I have struggled with different perspectives, several flora imbalances leading me to believe I had something wrong with it and a lack of attraction for that part of my body associated with a piece of shame at times but I have reached a point where I couldn’t live this way and deeply wanted to reconnect with that part of myself, femininity as well as to learn to enjoy it.

Has your relationship with your vulva/body changed post artwork process?

Yes I think so, I see something else, I see beauty, I see sacredness, I see natural art

If you could give your teenage self advice about your body image, what would you say?

I would encourage her to take the time to talk to her body, all the parts, to explore them with kindness, care, and love and without shame.