Vagina vs Vulva

The Original Title

The following text is a 2021 reply to an enquiry in which Jamie explains, in his own words, the reasons behind the title and why he waited a decade to rename it. For a more informal and fun explanation see the video interview at the end from Miami Art Week 2019 🙂

Thank you for your enthusiasm for my work and for taking the time to write to me to tell me that The Great Wall of Vulvas would be the correct title. It’s been a fascinating journey to see the use of language change over the years and for the word ‘vulva’ to become more commonly heard. Back in 2011 when the sculpture was debuted, everyone loved the title. ‘Vagina’ was a popular slang word for ‘Vulva’. This suggests to me that in less than a generation, public education about female genitals has come a long way and it’s a good feeling to know my work has played a small part in that. It starts conversations.

I can see there is now a lot of passion out there re the words. The truth is that in the early 2000s, when this sculpture was in production, genital art was not so common and I was not aware about the sensitivities some people have about using correct medical terms. I actually studied anatomy and I know very well all the parts of the female genitalia. However, at the time, there were very good reasons for using Vagina in the title. It was a deliberate and carefully made choice and definitely not an ignorant mistake as you suggest. We’re all learning on the job and it’s easy to get befuddled by language. After my spell checker was irritatingly obstinate about ‘vulvas’ being wrong, I discovered that the plural is in fact ‘vulvae’. Who knew? So technically even The Great Wall of Vulvas would be incorrect!

‘Vagina’ comes from a Latin word for a sheath, such as where one would store a sword. How it became common parlance for the whole genital area is anyone’s guess. It is used so widely that the common term for labiaplasty, for instance, has long been ‘designer vagina’. But you do make a good point: It is important to educate and use the correct words when appropriate.

Art is poetry, not prose and as the title of an artwork, not a medical textbook, perhaps it was rather too floral. I use puns in a lot of the titles of my artworks and I just took the term most commonly used. It’s simply a play on words on The Great Wall of China. ‘Vulva’ doesn’t rhyme with China and ‘Vagina’ does! When I created the work I had no idea it would become so popular or its message so important. I didn’t realise that the title might itself eventually come to misinform – something of an own goal I have to admit.

The title was deliberately humorous. Humour is a great tool in socio-political art. Used well it can get under peoples’ radars, past their natural resistance to tricky subjects and draw them in. Instead of potentially putting them off with medical terms that they may not have heard of. As that can make people feel stupid, I chose a word in common usage instead. If the intention is to get as many people to see this sculpture as possible then using a word that is easily understood in many languages is a smart move. So very simply, that is why I used ‘Vagina’ instead of ‘Vulva’. But I now acknowledge that is a mistake and I’m going to think hard about it.

Language is flexible and changes to reflect the way people use it. Many people have not heard the medical terms for the area so they use the words they do know or they use slang. ‘Vagina’ is so widely used instead of ‘vulva’ it has now come to mean both for the majority of people. I didn’t start that trend to use ‘Vagina’ incorrectly. I just went with the flow and the parlance of the time. Similarly if I say I have a stomach ache I’m referring to the stomach colloquially not medically. The pain is probably caused by gas in my intestines. Nobody gets confused about what I mean. It’s the same with the title of my sculpture. It is using colloquial language, or slang to describe something.

What has happened is that the artwork went from being a local curiosity to unexpectedly becoming an international success. Unfortunately puns rarely translate across borders. The Great Wall of China isn’t referred to in those words in every country. So using an English pun in the title for artwork that has gone global was a mistake. It doesn’t work except in English and that has been a hard lesson for me. If it doesn’t survive the translation then I acknowledge that’s a problem.

Back in the 2000s I was a little known artist who self-funded a big sculpture that has made a huge splash. I didn’t know it would go global. Trying to name something for a global market is very hard. Car-makers spend millions on researching names. Yet still the Vauxhall Nova went on sale in Spain before they realised that ‘no va’ means ‘doesn’t go’ in Spanish! I don’t have millions to research my sculpture titles. So I go with what sounds ok to me.

In fact the title came from a brain-storming session when a group of media students were filming the production of the work, way back in 2011. It’s working title had always been Design a Vagina (a pun on so called designer vaginas) but I always felt that was a bit weak. It was a woman, who had participated in the project in fact, who came up with The Great Wall of Vagina as a title. It made everyone laugh and we all agreed it just worked.

Now the language has moved on, you are right, it may be time to rename the work but that is a big decision. Despite the dodgy title, it has changed the lives of thousands of womxn the world over. Surely that is something to celebrate rather than to attack me for? If you look at the comments on my web page or Youtube channel you can see how significant it has been to people’s lives and wellbeing. It is demonstrating the range of normal genital appearance, or vulva diversity as is now the common term. This is where people can go to compare themselves and then to feel normal. To that end it is extremely successful and cited in medical literature as the best resource available to do so. I’m happy with that. Credit where credit is due.

But I do applaud your efforts. When something matters it is right to speak out. And I agree that encouraging the use of the correct medical terms is a worthwhile cause. Education is the key to liberation, equality, health etc. Although my sculpture educates in a different way, visually rather than verbally, I can see where I have got it wrong. That is why I’m sure, when the moment is right, I will take on board the popular feeling and find a new title for the work.

Please be encouraged that when I chose the title for the new vulva panel artwork, which is currently in production, I took on board this changing narrative. With the explosion in social media in the last decade and the subsequent boom in these discussions, we are all learning a new lexicon of terms around gender and sex education and once again I’m going with the current flow; I’m happy to tell you it will be called Viva la Vulva.

So you can teach an old dog new tricks, after all. A part of me does regret using ‘Vagina’ in the title now. But hindsight, as they say, is the only exact science. If I knew then what I knew now I would not have named it thus. But we don’t know what we don’t know. We all learn from each other. Most people using the word ‘Vulva’ now were using ‘Vagina’ in the past. They just hate to admit it! It’s taken a decade for the art world to recognise The Great Wall of Vagina as such a significant icon. As I write it is set to go on display internationally next year and it would be complex to change the title now, if not impossible. The truth is it does get people’s attention. It got yours! Anything that helps start these conversations can only be a good thing. Having said that, you never know what the future holds. I’m always open to being persuaded by a good argument and perhaps 2022 will be the year the leopard changes his spots…

With all good wishes,

Jamie