Vaginal Davis herself is a living work of art: a performer, writer and visual artist; an experimental filmmaker, a self-proclaimed Blacktress and “drag terrorist”.
Since the 1970s, her oeuvre has pushed the boundaries of art, music and performance. While living in Los Angeles, Ms. Davis ran multiple music and performance club nights; was active as the front-woman for numerous bands (Pedro Muriel & Esther; Cholita!; The Afro Sisters; et al.); ran her own gallery HAG Contemporary (1982-1989); and produced, among many, what is recognised as one of the first queer zines (Fertile La Toyah Jackson), now emblematic of the Queercore scene of the early 80s and 90s.
Concurrently, she acted and produced films, and frenetically drew, painted, and created works of art that reflect her universe of references that range from the golden age of Hollywood to the erotics of drugstore gay pornography.
Since moving to Berlin, Ms. Davis has been involved with the art collective CHEAP while curating the film series Rising Stars, Falling Stars at Arsenal Institut für Film und Videokunst. In 2021, she presented her totalising exhibition and installation The Wicked Pavilion, which encapsulated decades of her work within the notional fantasy structure of its installation—replete with a re-imagination of Davis’ teen bedroom. This perpetual reframing, staging, and reproduction of her own work emphasises the collage strategies that have ran through her work since its beginning and continues today.
Vaginal Davis (b. 1961, Los Angeles, USA) is an artist, performer, writer, and musician based in Berlin.
Solo exhibitions and special projects include: Magnificent Product, MoMA PS1, New York; Fabelhaftes Produkt, Gropius Bau, Berlin; Magnificent Product, Moderna Museet, Stockholm; The Wicked Pavilion, Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi and Eden Eden, Berlin; The White to be Angry, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; The Magic Flute, - Part One: An Opera in Six Steps 80WSE / NYU, New York; and HAG, Participant Inc., New York.
Group exhibitions include: Attention Line, Artists Space, New York; Subscribe: Artists and Alternative Magazines, 1970–1995, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; Witch Hunt, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning, 13th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju; Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon, New Museum, New York; and exhibitions at Julia Stoschek Foundation, Berlin, and Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham.
Prof. Vaginal Davis ist seit April 2026 als Gastprofessorin an der AdBK Nürnberg tätig. Die Gastprofessur wird durch das Spitzenprofessurenprogramm (SPP) des Bayerischen Staatsministeriums für Wissenschaft und Kunst gefördert.
Weitere Informationen zur Bayerischen Kunst-Spitzenprofessur finden sich hier.
