Seattle-based mixed media artist Puss n Toots creates art that infuses the shape of vulvas into everyday objects and living beings. She morphs objects such as earrings and lighters into vulvas and beings like scorpions and women that sprout vulvas from their heads. They do so to empower sexual assault and domestic violence survivors and to raise awareness of these issues. Not only that, Puss n Toots has also been taking concrete action by donating to a sexual assault resource center and raising further awareness for the cause through catchy and viral social media videos that help survivors to heal and make concrete progress with their lives, reflecting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Gender Equality.
Puss n Toots begins her advocacy through her social media videos. They’re bite-sized and easy to understand, while at the same time, they manage to convey the weight of her message that aims to empower survivors. In these videos, she does everything from sharing her own experience with healing from sexual assault, to statistics that break myths, stigmas and taboos around the issue. Due to the nature of her social media posts, these videos help to share her artworks with a larger audience, all while also advocating for the empowerment of survivors of sexual violence. Her impact can be seen in how she has amassed over 26,000 Instagram followers.
One example of a particularly impactful piece is Sour Puss • Levitaint, a digital art piece that depicts a levitating woman’s body seated in a lotus position. The being is showing their vulva to the world, all while their eight hands make mudras behind them, recalling powerful Hindu and Buddhist deities. A vulva has replaced this woman’s head, and in both their vulvas, a single glittering clitoris draws the viewer’s eye in.
Knowing that Puss n Toots’ artworks aim to advocate for feminist issues, the meaning of this artwork can be understood by analyzing Femme Maison, a similar piece by renowned feminist sculptor Louise Bourgeois. The Femme Maison, which can be translated as “house woman” from French is a series of paintings where a house has replaced a woman’s head. This is Bourgeois' reflection on how domestic affairs related to home-making are usually ascribed to a woman’s body, literally giving them a “home” state of mind and a visible identity tethered to their home.
The same metaphor can be applied in Puss n Toots’ Sour Puss • Levitaint. The figure’s vulva-head can be interpreted as a woman’s vulva state of mind and visible identity that’s tethered to their vulvas. Like Bourgeois’ Femme Maison, Sour Puss • Levitaint begs its viewers to think critically about this. Not necessarily condemning it, but asking why this is a reality. In the context of advocacy against sexual violence, the piece is also asking why this traumatizing event affects society’s perception of the survivor, where their identity is now seemingly forever altered by the event, so much so that it feels like their heads were made of vulvas.
To further spread her advocacy, Puss n Toots also creates apparel such as ornaments, candles, and lighters with vulvas front and center in their designs. She hand-makes them in small batches and sells them in conventions, pop-up bazaars, or art markets. These events allow Puss n Toots to interact directly with her audiences and talk about her artworks and the cause that fuels their fire, which also comes with its own unique challenges.
”What does your art mean? Does it mean you have a lot of sex? How much do you charge? I bet you’re expensive,” commented one of the men she met during her events. However, after she explained to him her story and the advocacy behind her art, he became supportive and shared his own experience of being sexually assaulted. This shows the power of Puss n Toots’ art, how it engages people in a conversation about an otherwise taboo topic and empowers survivors to speak up and begin their healing journey.
Find out more about vulva illustrations, apparels and other initiatives by Puss n Toots on her website www.pussntoots.shop Instagram @pussntoots69.