In a world where everything, including our body image, has been streamlined, reshaped and redefined by mass media, physical dissatisfaction is growing. Not only are we concerned about our beer guts and bingo wings, we’re worrying about the holiest of holies… our genitals!

Pornography, light and hard has played a major part in muddying the norms and painting an often unrealistic standard in which all penises are 9 inches long and all vaginas are shaved, neat and symmetrical.

The reality isn’t quite so standardized, a fact that 101 Vagina project creator, Philip Werner hopes to makes better known.

Through the creation of his 101 Vagina project, Werner has helped bring down some of the stereotypes and educate both men and women on the beauty and diversity of the female form.

We took some time to chat with Werner about 101 Vagina, and more…

RHP – Can you describe your background and how you came to the medium of nude photography.

Werner – I have been interested in nude photography since I first saw nude photos; I kind of assume most people are. However, for the longest time I always felt ashamed of this interest, feeling that it was dirty and made me a bad person.

It wasn’t until I was invited by a lover to take photos of her that I finally felt I had the permission I needed to take the first tentative steps. She was a photographer herself and had already done some nudes previously. She loved my appreciation of her and I loved the permission to appreciate her.

Since that realisation, that some women love it too, I went on a long journey healing my own feelings of shame and guilt. For me, nude photography has always had a healing element, for both myself and the friends whom I’ve photographed. I wrote a blog piece about the process of getting over shame through nude photography here.

Regarding the 101 Vagina book, I was initially inspired by Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues, which really brought home to me how debilitating the taboo is on various levels. Greg Taylor’s exhibition, simply called Cunts, was another inspiration. I wanted to do something to help ease the taboo and I had the idea of combining the visual element with a message. Being a photographer this book was how I felt I could, and wanted to, contribute.

What would you like to achieve with 101 Vagina?

Really it’s about breaking down the taboo and shame. I want people to feel comfortable with their bodies and their sexuality. I believe that the suppression and repression around our sexuality causes problems that we’re not fully aware of, including being causally related to sexual abuse. For this reason I think the removal of this taboo is actually very important.

How did you go about securing the models?

Initially I simply started shooting friends whom I told about it and who were interested in participating, but shooting 101 would have taken too long this way. So I built the website and made a Facebook page and invited every woman I knew in Melbourne. From this the word spread and then women started coming forward that I had no prior connection to.

There are short stories that accompany each picture in the series, is that right?

Yes, I asked each woman to write a “message from or about her vagina to the world.” Each photo is accompanied by this message. It is these messages which really give the book it’s depth. They span the entire spectrum of emotions and themes related to vaginas. From pleasure and joy to abuse and pain. Some are light and others deep. But they are all very real and candid. Many are very touching and come are also quite confronting. The story of a woman who wanted to cut her own labia off with scissors when she was a teenager stands out, but there are so many other powerful messages.

The project is comprised of various elements, the book, the calendar, the exhibition, can you tell us a little about each.

The book was always the main vision, that is what I was working towards, and it was even clear in my mind how I wanted it to look right from the start. So it was incredibly satisfying, after over two years, when I printed the first draft on my laser printer at home and saw my vision manifest physically. However, long before then I had already built the website and started publishing vagina stories that women were sharing with me.

The vagina stories part of the websites blog is still going and people can still send their stories in to me for publication. The calendar was then more of a fun addition, but it also means people have something they can buy if they don’t feel they can afford the book.

The exhibition was really the last thing to come along. For the launch I wanted to show what I had been doing, and in a way that lots of people could partake in and get the message of vagina love and self acceptance, and an exhibition was the most obvious way of doing this. In a way the exhibition detracts from the book, since many people don’t even realise that the book is what it’s all about, but I’m still happy that they get to engage with the work and get benefit out of it.

What has the public’s reaction to the project been like?

People’s reaction has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive. Only a handful of people have been critical, and then also only people who hadn’t even seen the book or viewed the exhibition. I have not come across a single person who has engaged with the project who has not appreciated it. So many people are deeply grateful and moved by it. There is a real reverence with which people stand and absorb the photos and stories. It’s fascinating to behold.

101 Vagina has already taken part in Festivals such as the Melbourne and Sydney Fringe, where would you like to take it in future?

I want to take it on the Ellen show !!! Anyone have a direct line to her? I want this book and it’s message to get out as far and wide as possible so that it can open as many people’s minds as possible. I would love to take it to the US and Europe, but it’s incredibly expensive to do all this. I’m heavily in dept from this project, despite the crowdfunding campaign (my parents contributed more than half) and the few books that are selling. I would need to sell 1000 books or more for it to break even.

You have some other 101 projects in the pipeline, can you tell us a little about these.

101 Penis! This was one of the most common questions when I was doing 101 Vagina, “Are you doing penises next?” So, yes, I am. The website is already up though there is not much on it yet. I have already taken 13 photos and will hopefully have time to keep shooting some more after the Melbourne Fringe exhibition. I’m also intending to do 101 Breasts.

For now, get to Melbourne Fringe exhibition in Melbourne:

101 Vagina Book Exhibition
Dates: 25 Sept – 6 Oct
Times: Mon-Fri 10am-6pm; Sat-Sun 12-5pm.
Venue: Colour Factory 409-429 Gore St Fitzroy

There are also a few works still up at a group exhibition as part of the Sydney Fringe at the Italian Forum in Leichhardt.

WIN 101 Vagina!

Special 101 Vagina purchase price for RHP members!
We’ve gotten together with 101 Vagina to offer RHP members a special coffee table book purchase price which you can take advantage right now!

Let us know your thoughts on the 101 Vagina project… is it breaking down stereotypes? Would you have it on your coffee table? Let us know below!