Vis-à-vis

“I think that morality has long since taken hold of the representation of the female body, more particularly their genitalia. They belong more to society than to women themselves.” (Model) 50 women from all over the world were invited to participate in this project through the years 2006 to 2009. The shootings took place principally in Paris and in Beijing. The portraits included in this book are presented anonymously, with the place of the shooting, the date of the session and original words from each model. „The exposure of female genitalia implies an ontological vulnerability. Is this why it has remained as one of the last bastions of censorship in the field of representation? It seems to me that female genitalia have suffered from the polar treatments of paternal protectionism, which has excluded them from the social field, or on the contrary, male exploitation, which has demanded perfectly “cultivated” and remolded vulvas. I wanted to see if there was a strategy that could neutralize traditionally diametrical views of female genitalia operating on these paradigms of attraction-repulsion. This series came into being in order to examine our capacity to look at female genitalia as they really are, without resorting to a ready-made alibi.“ (Chin-Chin Wu, photographer)