‘The Sum of Our Parts,’ says Jamie,

protests against the pervasive body fascism that sickens our society. Avoiding any image manipulation or airbrushing they portray the beauty of natural bodies, shown as the Gods intended.

one small seed interviewed Jamie in 2011 about the 400 plaster casts he sculpted of women’s vulva’s (‘The Great Wall of Vagina’), his latest work continues to transcend the erotic and pornographic connotations that often come with creating art out of nudity.

Keep posted for issue #3 of one small seed magazine where we delve a little deeper, and explore how the ‘vagina’ has been desensitised and exploited by the media to get more ‘clicks’…

Laura Mulvey the well known feminist film theorist first developed the notion of ‘the gaze’. A feminist theory developed to highlight the imbalance of power between the genders, and an analysis of the way men view women and how women view other women.  What Mulvey argued was that the way women are portrayed in film and media denied them human agency and relegated them to status of objects through the male gaze, which dominates the view of women in mainstream media. Women in media are fetishized and the stereotypes of women as sexual objects are reinforced. one small seed will take a closer look at the role of women in media, as shown by Mari Sarai,  in the next issue ‘Listen to my Colour & Look at my Sound” – out in stores beginning of January . Here we look at some roles current media have placed women in.

The woman as a secret late-night snack.

Mavericks new add campaign conceptualized and developed by Porky Hefer, markets suggestive fragrances as an alibi for men when they arrive home late after a night at the well known gentlemen’s club. The campaign has gained media focus with the tongue in cheek suggestion that men have an alibi for the night and the suggestion that the fragrance condones and promotes cheating. The advertisements themselves reinforce the fetishized sexual objectification of women, they are scantily clad and in erotic positions, they are sex symbols. The women in the billboards gaze down seductively inviting their objectification. The director of the Family Policy Institute, Errol Naidoo, has his own opinion about this: “Men are raised by the media on a steady diet of sexuality, making it okay to use women as sexual objects. Mavericks’s ads advocate adultery, which leads to divorce, the breakdown of the family, and then the social ills that plague our society: domestic abuse and drug use.”

Women, natural, nude and neutral.

The Great Wall of Vagina, a wall sculpture by Jamie McCartney, features over 400 women’s vagina’s in plaster cast’s. The 9 metro-long polyptych consists of ten large panels of labia’s ranging in ages from 18 – 76. All the women featured are volunteers from different countries and walks of life. The language of the sculpture and the visual language of gridlike rows with plain white casts desexualize the content and render it neutral. Instead the focus shifts to one of an educational nature, as McCartney explains, ‘ For many women their genital appearance is a source of great anxiety and I was in a unique position toy do something about that.’ The sculpture aims to empower women, and combat the worrying trend of designer vagina’s, by showing women a subject that is normally highly sexualized, and taking it out of that context and instead simply saying that no one is the same but different is normal.

Caged and on a leash – a life of Fetish.

Recently the photographic work of Dr Benway, a Cape Town based photographer, was exhibited by one small seed as album of the week. The series of photos entitled Fetish/ BDSM Studies in black and white feature encapsulate the gaze, inviting your gaze into the world of bondage and S and M. How does the camera position it’s female study? In the same way it positions the men in the photographs, as sexual objects. But rather than just being mere objects, their very actions invite a sexual view and you are left a willing voyeur to the tasteful art of bondage and S and M. The black, white and grey tones turn what could be considered light pornography into tasteful but risque’ art.

The Dominatrix.

Ah yes, the dominatrix, a figure which appears to turn the ‘ gaze ‘ stereotype on it’s head. Men who pay women in order to be submissive to them, who like being whipped, beaten and put in the naughty corner. Yes women hold the power but it must be asked is that not only because men have handed them the reigns while they get their rocks off? Can it be seen as women in power when they’re being paid for it? Much like Sasha Grey, the american born former pornographic actress who has since tried to turn that image into porn as performance art. With the release of her book, NEU SEX,  a photo essay of sorts interspersed with essays, Grey has tried to rework her image. But how many people will buy the book only because it features the famous porn stars name? Women who are paid to be sex symbols cannot be considered to have subverted the ‘gaze’ of the male, their power lies only in their own objectification.

The art of entertainment.

Geisha’s have existed since the late 600’s and have encompassed many forms, some trading sex for money but the more traditional form is based on strict moral codes and entertain with the art of music and dance. Far from being subservient or submissive, Geisha’s are trained from a young age to entrance their male guest’s through music, dance and conversation. The lifestyle of a Geisha is strictly matriarchal, women dominate, run, rule and teach in the Geisha houses, men exist as guest’s only, Founded on the principle of promoting independence and economic self- sufficiency, the Geisha figure is a celebration of traditional femininity and feminism. Mari Sarai while born in Japan, takes the female form to a new level with her celebration of the naked form in issue 24 of one small seed.

Jamie McCartney, a sculptor and ‘Plastercaster’ from Brighton, UK, has spent years making and arranging 400 plaster casts of vaginas to create ‘The Great Wall of Vagina’. One would imagine he must be pretty charming to have convinced such a number of women to strip off for him…

Where did the idea for this come from?

I was commissioned in Summer 2006 by an erstwhile sex museum to produce a sculpture that was to be an exposé of the different shapes and sizes of breasts and male and female genitals. As an artist this really interested me. I came to realise that most women don’t know what other women’s genitals really look like.

After five years working on the project, have you just about had enough of vaginas?

Well I don’t think I would do another project about genitals. I’ve certainly done enough vagina casting to last a lifetime and artistically I’m already onto other things. However, I’m a straight man and I love women. I don’t think I could have done a project like this if I didn’t. Let’s just say that professionally I’m done with them but recreationally I’m still enthusiastic.

You’ve said that the work avoids being pornographic because of how it is presented – tell us how you decided on the materials and arrangement?

These rows upon rows of casts displayed in this way have nothing to do with eroticism. This was never about that. It is in fact not sexy at all. The brick-like grid of the uniformly white plaster casts becomes just texture from a distance. As you approach you realise what you are looking at. The geometry of 4 rows of 10 casts in each panel is repeated in the 10 panels, creating 4 lines of 100 casts. The solid aluminium frames in contrast to the undulating curves of the casts give it an almost architectural strength. That imposition of geometry on these simulacra of flesh and their sheer number and juxtaposition abstracts it away from any notion of pornography.

No doubt had I chosen to create this piece photographically then, by the use of that common language, it could never have escaped from pornographic connotations. Had I painted them to look realistic, they would have just looked like medical models. It would also have brought the whole issue of race into the piece, which I felt was very important to avoid. The language of sculpture allows the piece to transcend all of that.

You did a before and after cast of a woman who had labiaplasty – what was her motivation to do it? I ask because it seems odd that someone who hates how they look enough to go under a knife would immortalize themselves in plaster, especially as you were unable to find a victim of FGM who would participate.

If a woman chooses to have cosmetic surgery after seeing all these casts then at least she is making an informed decision. This lady saw my casts and still wanted to get the surgery and she is happy with the results.

One of your videos begins with the words, ‘One Man, 200 Women.’ How has being a man affected your work with all these vaginas?

Yes that video was made two years ago when it was a work in progress. I think of it as working with 400 women rather than 400 vaginas. Some people have suggested it is less powerful coming from a man but I disagree. This is about changing both male and female attitudes and I don’t think my sex is relevant, although other men may take it better coming from another man.

Jamie is producing a book about the wall, with stories from participants, and is hoping to take it on tour. Check it out at www.gwov.co.uk

Source: Rosalind Duffy, dontpaniconline