Vulvan, förlossningen och mötet med modergudinnan : Om Monica Sjöös målning God giving birth

• Main Author: Björk, Chanda
• Format: Others
• Language: Swedish
• Published: Södertörns högskola, Institutionen för kultur och kommunikation 2010
• Subjects: Monica Sjoo; God giving birth; Niki de Saint-Phalle; She – a cathedral; 1970s feminism; feminist art history; mother goddess; goddess images; vulva iconography.; Monica Sjöö; Hon - en katedral; 1970-tals feminism; kvinnorörelsen; feministisk konsthistoria; modergudinna; gudinnebilder; vulvaikonografi.
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-17194

This study is about the artist Monica Sjoo’s (1938-2005) painting God giving birth (1968) that was accused of being blasphemous and obscene in the early 1970s. God giving birth could have had much in common with Niki de Saint-Phalle’s She – a cathedral (1966), both works suggesting a mother goddess image. The main difference however can be found in the fact that Monica Sjoo’s painting had connection to the women’s movement in the 1970s. Monica Sjoo’s artwork responded to other feminist artwork of that period. Among several feminist artists during the period about 1968-1985, an iconography was in use that focused on vulvar imagery, experience of childbirth and goddess images. In particulary the mother goddess was embraced. The female body in art was re-sacred and invested with meaning connected with women’s cycles of birth-death and rebirth and the earth as a mother goddess.