| DISPLAY | RAISING THE SKIRT |

Nicola Canavan (left) and

Dawn Felicia Knox

Raising the Skirt: Warrior

Photograph by Dawn Felicia
Knox in collaboration with
Nicola Canavan (2014)

I WANT TO
HELP WOMEN
SHED THEIR
FEARS
60 AUGUST 2015

NICOLA
CANAVAN
TELLS ANNA
MCNAY ABOUT
HER PROJECT
TO HONOUR
THE VULVA

The tradition of raising the skirt has

its roots as far back as Ancient Greece.
In global folklore, the revelation of a
womans genitals her cunt has been
thought to calm the forces of nature
and drive away evil spirits. In Britain
and Ireland sheela-na-gigs (stone
carvings of females with exaggerated
vulva) were placed 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 wasnt 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 significant 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.

Female genitals were once

thought to have the power
to calm the ocean: workshop
images by Dawn Felicia Knox in
collaboration with Nicola Canavan

raisingtheskirt.com | nicolacanavan.com
DIVAMAG.CO.UK 61