BRAZIL- Huge vulva sculpture in Brazil causes outrage and criticism. The 108-foot tall sculpture designed by artist Juliana Notari named ‘Diva’ is situated on the Usina de Arte, an art park in northeastern Brazil.
Juliana Notari stated that the big hand made sculpture is to “question the relationship between nature and culture in our phallocentric and anthropocentric western society,”
According to Notari, it took over 40 hands to make Diva rise, over twenty men working in a heroin effort under the sun to pin, amid a lot of music and joke. Diva is a Land Art, a massive vulva/ wound excavation measuring 33 meters high, by 16 meters wide and 6 meters deep, covered by armed concrete and resin.
Olavo de Carvalho, an influential politician and an associate of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro took to Twitter to criticise the sculpture by suggesting that the sculpture should be challenged with a giant penis.
However, Notari wrote on her Facebook page that amid so many rocks in the middle of this dystopian year, she finally finish the year with Diva ready!! “It was a long process, almost 11 months of a lot of persistence, coexistence and learning.” She said.
Brazil has the largest number of Catholic Christians in the world. However, she explained that she uses art to dialogue with issues that refer to gender issues from a female perspective combined with a cosmopocentric and anthropocentric western society.
She reckoned that currently, these issues have become increasingly urgent. After all, it is by changing perspective of our relationship between humans and humans and nonhuman, that will allow us to live longer on that planet and in a less unequal and catastrophic society.
Renate is a lawyer, publicist, and writer. She believes that education and information is the key to developing and shaping Africa. In her free time, she paints beautiful art pieces on canvas. Renate believes that life is a perception, and you live it the way you perceive it.