FLOWER OF LIFE
During Miami Art Week, we presented the world premiere of Flower of Life, the largest and most intimate portrait of a vagina ever exhibited.
Immediately upon entering the fair, visitors met her in full majesty. Nearly seven feet tall and embraced by a carved wooden baroque frame, Flower of Life resembled a classical painting more than a photograph. Everyone who encountered the work was struck by a raw sense of recognition. In this encounter, the familiar became monumental, and the monumental became deeply human.
Flower of Life
Canvas with Carved Wooden Baroque Frame
Limited Edition of 3
166cm x 200cm
Look at this vagina, exposed in all its glory. Look at all its simultaneous complexity and simplicity.
— Daniel Coffeen, PhD
The vagina — the ‘Flower of Life’, is a wonder of nature, a sacred symbol of creation, universally shared yet always uniquely expressed through a complex variety of form, pattern and palette. Freeing the body of misconception and shame is a fundamental step towards freedom.
Marisa shares her uncensored ‘Flower of Life’ counter-culturing current community standards. Undressing her from thick layers of propaganda, we reveal her in the light of high-fidelity and elegance, reminding us of the mystery of our origin.
The selfie sensation of Art Miami is also the most banned.
The buzz of the “very big vagina” spread rapidly, and nearly everyone who arrived at the expo was eager to see the infamous Flower of Life. Over the course of the week, thousands of selfies were taken with the artwork. However, only a few hours after the opening, our gallery was informed that several visitors had posted their selfies on Instagram, only for the images to be removed within minutes. Dozens of reports followed from users whose accounts were suspended for sharing photographs of the piece. Although Instagram’s community guidelines permit nudity in artwork, the platform still removed the image. Were it not for this flawed algorithm, Flower of Life would almost certainly have become one of the most viral artworks of the event.
There is no such thing as sinful skin. Our naked bodies are always in humble integrity. There is divine poetry in our sexes.
“But this—this vagina, this image, this 'Flower of Life'— is up to something else that belies, that refuses, ready reduction to familiarity and the already known. The way it stands towards us, its comportment, is simultaneously confrontational and deadpan, in our face and utterly serene. It won’t let us place it on familiar territory. It’s not sexual or pornographic; it’s not medical; it’s not a rebellious flouting of convention; it’s not a poster for “pussy power.” No, this 'Flower of Life' is up to something else.”
— Daniel Coffeen, PhD
via ‘Behold This Non-Fungible Vagina (NFV), or The Multiple Event of Emergent Particularity in the Digital Age’
Read the essay on Medium
The image of a vagina is pretty much non-existent in the art world. It’s often seen as too taboo, rather than the powerful muse that she is. How can something so exquisite and beautiful be deemed shameful?
I am a sinless seed
I am the seed of my mothers apple
I am the seed of the seed of the seed of the seed
I am the seed of the original seed
through her sacred flower
I gave birth to myself
I descended mother
to witness
the light of earth
I covered myself with the blood of christ
washed myself with the flow of life
I am veiled by nature
as a fleur-de-lis
I am given a gift
a shell of shielding soft skin
my fingers follow my truth
touch upon my flesh
profound pleasure when kissed
behold,
what a shame if missed
I do not deny myself
I am not a forbidden fruit
for the sake of sacredness
I open my leaves of unity
bloom,
my holy fruit
this is our origin
this is our naked truth