Nicki Martin-Harper, What Was Given, 2019.

Synthetic leather on a wooden frame, embellished with velvet, crochet, embroidery and beading. 90x60x30 cm.

Nicki Martin-Harper is a British textile artist who lives in London. She has been creating vulvar art since early 2019; on the internet and social media she is known as Utopian Fallopian. Her work is an interpretation and celebration of the vulva: she uses fabrics and a variety of decorative techniques and fibers to create unique pieces that explore the uniqueness of the human body. Her desire is to bring joy to her audience, which is why she tries to entertain and encourage self-acceptance of an area of ​​the body that's wrapped up in shame and misunderstanding.

Wild Blood shows the ancestral power that the vulva and the experience of the menstrual cycle gives. This work was created to oppose the feeling of shame, it talks about self-acceptance and love for what our body can do.

This artwork is part of the Viva la Vulva by Nuvenia project: a collective exhibition by international artists that aims to break down taboos linked to the female body in conjunction with an online charity auction in favor of the Italian Red Cross. The works will be on display at Six Gallery in Milan from 9 to 11 October.

"We are born free from taboos. We live in a society that forces them upon us, feeding stereotypes. Talking about them helps to break them down and learn to accept each other: because we are all perfect precisely because we are different".