VULVALAND – Your dream has finally come true: extraordinary pussy shots everywhere your eyes wander.
We interviewed the wonderful artist Alexandra Aderhold but decided that we will give her newest project “Vulvaland” the bigger stage.
But look for yourself and get lost in the beauty of her pieces.
Vulvaland is a photo series that represents the vulva as an art object. How did you come up with that?
In my opinion, the human body itself is an art object and the perfect canvas for art.
Since the vulva has always been kind of ‘hidden’ in most nude art photography I decided to give her the entire stage of the photo and to put a huge flashlight on her.
The vulva is the canvas, and I’m deciding what I’m painting at the moment of the shooting.
It’s incredibly fun to work with all the different shapes, forms, and colors, and to even tell a little story with the photo set!
How did you source your models for this special project?
For the first part of the series, I was the model since I wanted to see how it actually would look to create a photo like this.
I really liked the results and so I showed it to some of the models I’m working with on a regular basis, and they all wanted to participate.
I really hope I can get it even more diverse than that at some point but it’s a bit hard to find models for these kinds of photos! So, if anyone from Berlin wants to participate, please contact me: contact@aderholdprojects.com
What types of reactions do you observe from people being in front of Vulvaland pictures? Are there any differences in women’s, men’s, and queer people’s reactions?
I have a print of the Vulvaland series in my studio, so anytime someone comes over for a photo shooting they see the photos, and so far, all reactions were positive.
Most people don’t recognize what they’re looking at in the first few seconds, but once they do, they love getting closer to look at the details.
But women and queer people tend to ‘fall in love’ a bit more with this series,
or at least they tend to talk a little longer about their thoughts on it.
What is the difference between erotic art and porn?
That’s a good question!
The problem I have with these labels is that it’s hard to draw a clear line between nude, fetish, porn art, and porn.
I’d say that the intention is always important – when we decide to film a sex scene so that we have a sex film in the end, I’d call that porn.
If we’re filming a sex scene with the intent to have an artistic film in the end, who’s to say where porn ends and where porn / erotic art begins?
I guess it’s always the viewer’s choice to pick the ‘right’ labels.
Erika Lust for example creates art in my opinion, but I do understand when people say that she’s creating porn, because technically, it is porn, as much as it is art.
But what’s a label anyway – just look and see if you like it or not!
We as an erotic publisher and you as erotic art photographer are getting censored constantly.
Do you ever question yourself and the validity of your art? How does your art add value to society?
I guess the value of my art lies in the joy and empowerment that it brings to my models, the viewers, and me.
I’ve had plenty of women in front of my camera who said that a (nude) shooting with me really helped them to connect with their bodies again, that they became more confident.
I’ve heard the same from other people who saw my work, and who could relate a lot with the people in front of my lens.
Since I’m usually not working with professional models (I’m talking about models from agencies) but rather with people who just love to model, it seems to be easier to identify with my models for some viewers!
I guess the value can’t be measured, but it’s there and it’s enough for everybody involved to continue creating as long as we want to.
