A Beginner’s Guide to Engaging with Yoni Art

Art depicting the vulva has been a sacred human tradition for over 40,000 years, yet due to a variety of contemporary social pressures, this art-form can be upsetting to some people.

Here, we offer a simple primer for engaging with yoni art on your own terms.

Not everyone who comes to the Yoni Mudra Art Gallery is familiar with yoni art and its

history. If you count yourself among that group, you’re in the right place!

When you come face-to-face with art depicting the vulva, whether it’s a true-to-life

rendition or a symbolic and/or abstracted one, you may find yourself feeling a mixture of

things. You might feel seen, intrigued, fascinated, or even deeply touched. And then again, you might feel some of those other emotions that we, as humans, tend not to be as comfortable. There might be a flicker of discomfort, or embarrassment, or even the urge to look away.

For some, looking at yoni art brings up an almost child-like shame, like you’re sneaking

a peek from a book your parents forbid you from seeing. Others find themselves wondering why they should look at all, because the vulva isn’t something they ever considered ‘artistic’ or beautiful.

If any of this resonates with you, we want to reassure you that this is okay. It’s okay to

look and feel like you shouldn’t be looking. It’s even okay to question whether it’s something at which you want to look. These feelings aren’t a reflection of you, but of a culture that has taught us to react a certain way. And the good news is that you have the power within you to engage with this art completely on your own terms.

Here, we’d like to offer one way of approaching yoni art as a beginner: first, by learning

a bit more about the art form itself, then unpacking why it can feel challenging to view,

and finally learning how to engage this art form on your own terms.

What is Yoni Art?

Yoni is a Sanskrit word that refers to the female reproductive organs (the vulva, vagina,

and uterus) and also translates as “womb,” “source,” and “origin.” The yoni is among the

most common images you see in prehistoric art, with the oldest examples dating back

over 40,000 years.

In Hindu and Tantric traditions, the yoni is thought of as a divine temple, the place where

all life begins, and is worshipped as a representation of the goddess Shakti.

With this in mind, we can think of yoni art as any art that relates to, is shaped like, or

symbolizes the yoni as a representation of female creative power. It can be literal and

explicit, or symbolic and abstract. Throughout history, artists have used many symbols

to bring this to mind: triangles, portals, as well as many natural forms like flowers,

seashells, and caves, to name just a few.

The adjective “yonic” (meaning relating to or shaped like a yoni) is the direct counterpart

to a word you’ve almost certainly heard before: “phallic.” While the word “phallic” has

been a part of the English language for centuries, “yonic” really only entered our

vocabulary in the last hundred years. The fact that “phallic” is instantly recognizable

while “yonic” is still obscure tells you a lot about which anatomy our society puts on a

pedestal, and which it prefers to leave unnamed and unseen!

The Sanskrit word for the phallus is lingam, a symbol of generative power, whereas yoni

is a symbol for source or origin.

What we want you to take away from this brief introduction is that yonic art is not new;

it’s a tradition that predates our current cultural hang-ups by literally tens of thousands of years! We, as human beings, have revered the vulva for far longer than we have feared it.

Why It Can Be Hard to Engage with Yoni Art

If our ancestors revered it, why can engaging with yoni art feel so complicated now?

The short answer is the culture of shame. Our modern discomfort with art depicting the

yoni (let alone discussing it!) comes from the extremely limited and objectifying ways

our culture presents the vulva today. As patriarchal societies grew, the vulva got tied up

with ideas of sin, temptation, and impurity. It became seen as an object of desire, but

also as something ugly or unclean. In any case, it was (and still is) something to be

hidden away and not discussed, let alone examined for its own sake.

Often, our very first encounter with the vulva is in the context of lessons about "private

parts" that must be concealed. Even the words for female anatomy are treated as

taboo*; instead, we fall back on euphemisms, many which are heavy with negative

connotations.

[*Case in point: I often dictate my first drafts, because giving voice to my words helps

me overcome the initial hurdle that is staring at a blank page. In doing so for this very

post, I was immediately thwarted by the fact that my speech-to-text was rejecting the

word vulva, censoring it with asterisks as if it were objectionable.]

Once that foundation of shame and silence is laid, Western culture piles on with

messages that serve to reinforce it. We are inundated with ads for ‘hygiene’ products

that frame natural bodily functions as dirty and embarrassing and social media

algorithms that amplify damaging misinformation about the vulva. We experience

comedians who make a punchline of its size, shape, or smell, pornography that

promotes an impossibly narrow idea of what a “normal” vulva looks like, and plastic

surgeons who capitalize on it. The list goes on.

The only other common way we're permitted to see or discuss our anatomy is in a

strictly medical sense. Here, the vulva, vagina, and uterus are reduced to a problem to be diagnosed, not a part of a whole person, or only engaged when the matter deals with

reproduction. This, too, is a form of objectification.

This is where yoni art steps in to tell a completely different story; one that is at

once ancient and, in our present context, refreshingly new.

Yoni art presents the vulva not as a medical specimen or a sexual commodity, but as a

source of creative power and meaning. It calls back to the reverence our prehistoric

ancestors had for the yoni and its power of creation. Instead of objectifying, it

empowers.

A Beginner’s Guide to Engaging with Yoni Art

We’ve talked about the ancient roots of yonic art and recognized that our modern-day

discomfort is by design. So, let's go back to that idea from the beginning: engaging with this art on your own terms.

What does that actually look like in practice? What do you do when you're standing in front of a piece and just… aren’t sure what to think?

Well, there are no “rules” to engaging with yoni art, except to do so curiously, with an

open mind, and with respect. Beyond that, it may help to borrow from these potential

thought processes when forming your own mindset.

1. Acknowledge your feelings without judgment. First, recognize that your feelings (even the ones you might classify as negative) are valid. They don’t speak to your worth or the worth of the art. Try to observe them from an outside perspective, taking note of them curiously. The goal is simply to be present with whatever feelings arise.

2. Know that Yoni art is part of who we are. Go in with the knowledge that when you engage with Yoni art, you are engaging with one of humanity's oldest artistic traditions. You’re stepping into the footsteps of your ancestors from thousands of generations past. How cool is that?

3. Ask mindful questions. If you feel hesitant, ask yourself some questions to guide your response. Instead of settling for a gut reaction, you might ask: What is the artist trying to communicate here? Why might they have chosen the materials they used? How does this piece make me feel, and what cultural messages might be influencing that feeling?

4. Appreciate the diversity. A central purpose of many yoni artists is to celebrate the natural diversity of our bodies: variations in size, shape, colour, and form. The idea of a "normal" vulva is a myth, and this art often pushes back on that premise.

5. Connect to your own experience. Finally, if you’re ready, see if the art connects to your personal experience. Does it resonate with any aspect of your own journey with your body?

Artists who create yoni art engage in an act of reclamation, pushing back against

cultural messages that make us feel ashamed of and disconnected from our own

bodies. When you stand before this art and make the choice to look, to think, and to

question your own feelings, you get to participate in this process as well!

So, if you're curious, come on by the Yoni Mudra Art Gallery at 241 Duke Street in

Kitchener. Grab a coffee, hang out with the art for a bit, and just see what you think!