The Body/Sexuality

Judy Chicago has addressed women’s sexuality and sexual pleasure in multiple iterations throughout her career, often putting representations of the female body front and center. The most well-known example of this may be The Dinner Party in which vulvular forms are used on place settings for 39 historical and mythological women. While The Dinner Party is the most famous example, Chicago has produced several other bodies of work that challenge fixed notions of female sexual agency sometimes employing floral or butterfly motifs as symbolic of sexual openness, expansion, and blooming. Prime examples of this theme are Nine Fragments from the Delta of Venus, which illustrates erotic text written by Anais Nin; a series of prints titled Butterfly Vagina Erotica; and Voices from the Song of Songs, which challenges traditional gender roles within intimate relationships.