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Giant vulva statue fuels gender debate in Brazil

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/news/01/06/vulva.jpg"/><figcaption>Handout picture taken on December 22, 2020 and released by Brazilian artist Juliana Notaria on January 5, 2021 showing her giant artwork &#x27;Diva&#x27; -which resembles a 33-metre-long, 16-metre-wide and 6-metre-deep vulva that was excavated on a hillside in the open-air museum Usina de Arte in the municipality of Agua Preta, 130 km from Recife, in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. The work seeks to promote a debate on &quot;gender problematization&quot; according to Notaria. <em>Juliana Notaria, Agence France-Presse</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>SAO PAULO - An enormous bright-red vagina sculpture on a mountain in northeast Brazil is intended to inspire intercourse -- not the sexual kind but rather a dialogue on gender issues, particularly poignant under the conservative government of President Jair Bolsonaro.</p><p>Artist Juliana Notari created the 33-meter (108-foot) vulva, titled &quot;Diva,&quot; with the help of more than 20 people, who excavated a rural sugarcane field in Pernambuco state to make a crevice which she says also resembles &quot;a wound.&quot; </p><p>&quot;In &#x27;Diva&#x27; I use art to engage with questions that refer to gender issues from a female perspective,&quot; Notari said on Facebook.</p><p>The six-meter deep, cement-lined excavation took nearly 11 months to complete, but touches on issues &quot;that are becoming more and more urgent,&quot; Notari said.</p><p>Brazil is undergoing a wave of ultra-conservatism which swept Bolsonaro to power in 2019 and has created polarized discussion on gender issues, including on hot button topics such as abortion.</p><p>Since 2003, Notari has been &quot;working with the female anatomy and seeks to provoke discussions around sexual taboos imposed on women,&quot; official material on the sculpture said.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s also a wound, too,&quot; Notari said of the sculpture.</p><p>The work has come under ridicule and garnered criticism, with one Facebook user posting that &quot;if it was 15 minutes of fame she wanted, she got it,&quot; while others have applauded the artist&#x27;s ability to create space for reflection.</p><div><strong>pr/bfm/st</strong></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lsQ4-4qWnYo?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

<p>SAO PAULO - An enormous bright-red vagina sculpture on a mountain in northeast Brazil is intended to inspire intercourse -- not the sexual kind but rather a dialogue on gender issues, particularly poignant under the conservative government of President Jair Bolsonaro.</p>

SAO PAULO - An enormous bright-red vagina sculpture on a mountain in northeast Brazil is intended to inspire intercourse -- not the sexual kind but rather a dialogue on gender issues, particularly poignant under the conservative government of President Jair Bolsonaro.