Welcome to the Yoniverse: a solo exhibition by Katie Lloyd

Please join the ArtSHINE community as we celebrate the latest exhibition by Katie Lloyd; 'Welcome to the Yoniverse'...

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About Katie Lloyd - Why Yoni Art?

"My name is Katie Lloyd and I am a queer visual artist from Nimbin, Australia. I am a mixed medium artist predominantly using the mediums of watercolour, acrylic and ink. I create art around issues of gender, sexuality and the female experience.

Yoni Art is an empowerment of the body for the owner of the Yoni (vagina). It is smashing the beauty standards set for what is beautiful and normal when it comes to genitalia. A full-powered stance on the oppression of sexuality and gender, Yoni art depicts the vulva in all its majestic beauty, power, mystery and uniqueness.

Oppression of the feminine can be traced through the traditional art canon by looking at the representation of the female body in western art.

I would like to take a moment to acknowledge that Yoni art is a safe space for all Yoni’s no matter the gender you identify with or be it no gender at all. Every-body can celebrate, love and connect with the Yoni through Yoni art." - Katie Lloyd

Exploring the Empowering Beauty of yoni Art with Katie Lloyd:

"Perhaps there’s no art subject more depicted - and yet at the same time taboo – than the vagina. Since the dawn of time, man has created sculptures of lady parts, yet it remains a shocking or of-ten-censored subject.

In the 60s and 70s pioneering feminist artists like Betty Dodson and Judy Chicago set the vagina agenda with their paradigm-shifting works, that unapologetically represented the vulva in all its glory.

Today contemporary male artists from Jamie McCartney’s 2006 Great Wall of Vagina to Greg Taylor’s 2009 CUNTS… and other conversations, have attempted to resurrect the vagina as an art subject matter, albeit through a distinctly male gaze – and in a manner designed to provoke.

But who are the female artists reimagining the vaginal theme for a new generation?

Enter Alexandra Florschutz, Laüra Hollick and Katie Lloyd. These artists are painting and drawing the vagina in a way that’s aligned with their own feminine essence and ensuring ‘yoni art’ is emerging as one of art’s most profound and empowering trends. Let’s take a deeper dive into the empowering beauty of yoni art.

What is yoni art?

From pretty, floral-inspired, impressionism and sculptures, to literally painting onto vulvas then printing onto canvas, yoni art takes many forms. But it’s all united by the sacred feminine; that most divine relationship a woman has with her own body.

For those not familiar with the term ’Yoni’, is a Sanskrit word for the internal and external reproductive organs of the female body, e.g., the womb, vulva and vagina.

Yoni art is making headway for female empowerment, and it’s doing so by shaking off the oppressive societal norms that have programmed us to believe female bodies and sex shouldn’t be viewed unless for pleasure.

It may sound crazy that something as simple as a painting of a vagina can empower women, but you only have to see how many women are joining this movement to see the truth of its empowerment.

In the past, men have held the narrative, on the way women look, which is why so many women have fears and misconceptions about their vulvas, their breasts, and their bodies as a whole.

Through reclaiming the vagina from the male gaze, yoni art celebrates and admires it for its beauty without sexualisation, fetishisation or erotic objectification.

Women are now taking their power back by authentically representing themselves and their bodies. Yoni Art is a means of embracing the differences and uniqueness of vulvas. Although the style may be impressionistic, realistic, or anything else in between, what’s being portrayed is an authentic depiction of yonis around the world. Women artists aren’t changing the shape or size to fit beauty ideals of what the perfect body should be, they’re using diversity to express how varied our bodies are.

Yoni Artist: Katie Lloyd

Both inspired and saddened by the growing trend for labiaplasty, Queer Australian artist Katie Lloyd began a series of works based around the vagina. Working in soft feminine hues of dusky pinks, lilacs, purples and green she marries impressionistic watercolour depictions of the vagina with natural elements, be it flowers or landscapes. Her beautiful works illustrate how evocative flowers can be of the vagina, for instance, how the bearded iris has petals like inner labia lips and is just as unique and beautiful.

“I want to wildly empower women around their bodies and sexuality by celebrating their vulvas,” she explains. “By shaking off the impact of censorship and the patriarchal influence, my work invites women to embrace their body, free from repression, shame and judgement.”

“I see my drawings as a representation of the Divine Feminine, an alternative or counterpart to current day patriarchal worship structures. In this aspect, Yoni art is symbolic of a woman’s spiritual connection to herself, her own sacred feminine energy and soul. I see the yoni as a portal to the Divine, a gateway between earth and spirit.”

“My artworks depict yonis from all walks of life, all nationalities, ages, colours, shapes, sizes and genders. It’s my goal to empower the viewer around their body, and influence their perception of beauty by encouraging them to seek a viewpoint outside of orthodox social constructs.”

Like some other yoni artists, Lloyd also accepts commissions. For generations of women who’ve learnt unconsciously over centuries that this is a body part to hide, not touch or talk about, what could be a more empowering statement that to have their very own vaginas immortalised in art?

A part feminist statement, part goddess worship, yoni art is empowering women, one vulva at a time." - Katie Lloyd