Editing Vaginal Davis

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2013}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name             = Vaginal Davis
| image            = File:Vaginal Davis As Bricktop.jpg
| image_size       = 
| caption          = Vaginal Davis as "Bricktop" in 2004.
| background       = solo_singer
| alias            = {{hlist|Dr. Vaginal Davis|Vaginal Creme Davis|Mistress Veronika V'intrest|The Walking Installation Piece, Graciela, Miss Bricktops}}
| origin           = [[Los Angeles, California]]
| genre            = {{hlist|[[Punk rock]]|[[experimental music|experimental]]|[[queercore]]|[[performance art]]}}
| occupation       = {{hlist|musician|[[zine]]ster|television presenter|hostess|[[gossip columnist]]|author|[[performance artist]]|experimental film-maker}}
| years_active     = 1976 – present
| instrument       = 
| label            = {{hlist|Amoeba Records & Filmworks|Spectra Sonic Records|[[Mr. Lady]]|Chongo Records|[[Dischord Records]]}}
| associated_acts  = 
| website          = {{Official URL}}
}}

'''Vaginal Davis''' (born in [[Los Angeles]], [[California]]) is an American performer, painter, independent curator, composer, film-maker and writer.<ref name=Sleekvcd>{{cite web|last=Perlson|first=Hili|title=Vaginal Davis speaks|url=http://www.sleek-mag.com/berlin/2011/09/vaginal-davis-speaks-featured-in-sleek-31-xx-xy/|publisher=Sleek magazine|access-date=August 11, 2012|quote=I'm intersex, born with both female and male genitalia, so I'm a strange hybrid creature. I'm also part German, quarter Jewish, my father was born in Mexico and my mother is French Creole.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120930013403/http://www.sleek-mag.com/berlin/2011/09/vaginal-davis-speaks-featured-in-sleek-31-xx-xy/|archive-date=September 30, 2012|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Born [[intersex]] and raised in [[South Los Angeles|South Central, Los Angeles]], Davis gained notoriety in [[New York City|New York]] during the 1980s,<ref name=":4">{{cite web|url=http://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/vaginal-davis#page2|title=Let Her Teach You: Questions For Vaginal Davis|access-date=October 22, 2016|date=March 23, 2010}}</ref> where she inspired the [[Bushwick, Brooklyn|Bushwick]] neighborhood of [[Brooklyn]]'s prevalent drag scene as a [[genderqueer]] artist.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://bedfordandbowery.com/2015/11/vaginal-davis-returns-to-new-york-taking-on-sculpture-and-mozart/|title=Vaginal Davis Returns to New York, Taking on Sculpture and Mozart|last=Disser|first=Nicole|date=November 23, 2015|website=Bedford and Bowery|access-date=December 3, 2016}}</ref><ref name="Vaginal Davis' Biography" /> She currently resides in [[Berlin|Berlin, Germany]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.art21.org/2013/06/25/queer-berlin-a-look-back-at-the-career-of-vaginal-davis/|title=A Look Back at the Career of Vaginal Davis|first=Kindergeburtstag Mannheimer Zeitung|last=Says|date=June 25, 2013 |access-date=October 22, 2016}}</ref>

==Early life==
Growing up, Davis lived with her mother, originally from [[Louisiana]], and four older sisters. Her mother was [[Creoles of color|Black Creole]], her father was of [[Mexicans|Mexican]] and [[Jews|Jewish]] descent,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Boshier|first=Rosa|date=2020-08-03|title=''We Paid For This Town'': The Legacy of Chicanx Punk in LA|url=https://hyperallergic.com/579836/we-paid-for-this-town-the-legacy-of-chicanx-punk-in-la/|access-date=2020-08-07|website=[[Hyperallergic]]|language=en-US}}</ref> and her grandfather was of [[Germany|German]] descent, with Davis stating that he was born in [[Wannsee]] and was the "black sheep" of the [[House of Hohenzollern|von Hohenzollern]] dynasty.<ref name=":4" /> Davis' mother was a revolutionary feminist and community activist in the South Central area, and planted food gardens in vacant lots to help feed the homeless, impoverished, and marginalized peoples of the area. As a young child in the Los Angeles public education system, Davis was accepted into a program for gifted students, where she was first exposed to and developed a love of theater and opera.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":3" /> At age seven, Davis saw [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]'s ''[[The Magic Flute]]'' on a school trip to the opera, and credits this experience as a catalyst for her development as a drag queen.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Monaghan|first=Connie|date=May 1997|title=Vaginal Creme Davis|url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt7489q3mv/|journal=Coagula Art Journal|type=zine|volume=27|via=Online Archive of California; University of California, Los Angeles Library Special Collections}}</ref>

== Career ==
Davis' name pays homage to activist [[Angela Davis]], and considers Davis' involvement with the [[Black Panther Party]] and activism as a whole to be one of her biggest inspirations, explaining, "They came into the schools, they had guns, and they took over. They were teaching us all these revolutionary songs and chants and what not. At that time, when Angela Davis was the most wanted woman in America, I was just fixated with that image of her. By the late '70s I had decided I sort of wanted to sexualize her name and become her, more or less. So I started in the late '70s calling myself Vaginal Davis. I started to perform– or tried to perform– at these gay clubs in Los Angeles, in Hollywood. The people in these clubs, they would look at me and say, 'Vaginal Davis? Well who are you supposed to be?' And I said, 'Well, Angela Davis– it's a homage to that.' And they'd say, 'Well who's that?' They didn't know who Angela Davis was."<ref name=":3" />

Vaginal Davis is one of the founders of the homo-core punk movement. She chooses to exploit herself to engage in rude provocations and "gender-fucking." As a self-labeled "sexual repulsive", she is an icon of the disruptive performance aesthetic known as terrorist drag.<ref name="Vaginal Davis' Biography">{{Cite web|title=Vaginal Davis' Biography|url=http://www.vaginaldavis.com/bio.shtml|access-date=2017-10-12|website=Vaginal Davis}}</ref>

===1970–1989: Career beginnings===
Vaginal Davis' band the [[Afro Sisters]] released their first seven-inch EP ''Indigo, Sassafras & Molasses'', produced by [[Geza X]] with Amoeba Records in 1978.<ref name="discography">{{cite web|title=Vaginal Davis Dot Com: Discography|url=http://www.vaginaldavis.com/disc.shtml|work=VaginalDavis.com|access-date=March 12, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Sanchez|first=John|title=In Performance: Vaginal Davis unplugged|url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/in-performancevaginal-davis-unplugged/Content?oid=893456|work=[[Chicago Reader]]|access-date=March 12, 2013|date=May 15, 1997}}</ref> The Afro Sisters opened for [[the Smiths]] on their first American tour, as well as the [[Happy Mondays]].<ref>{{cite web|last=LaBruce|first=Bruce|title=Vaginal Davis|url=http://www.buttmagazine.com/magazine/interviews/vaginal-davis/|work=[[Butt (magazine)|BUTT]]|access-date=March 12, 2013}}</ref>

Vaginal Davis is often associated with the formation of the [[Queercore]] [[zine]] movement.<ref name="LLC1994">{{cite magazine|author=Cooper, Dennis|title=Who's got the 10 1/2?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Zg4PvPMtTcC&pg=PA16|access-date=March 11, 2013|date=July 1994|pages=16–|magazine=[[Spin (magazine)|SPIN]]|issn=0886-3032}}</ref> From 1982 to 1991, she self-published the zine ''Fertile [[La Toya Jackson|La Toyah Jackson]],''<ref name=":2">{{cite web|title=Vaginal Davis Dot Com: Zineography|url=http://www.vaginaldavis.com/zine.shtml|work=VaginalDavis.com|access-date=March 11, 2013}}</ref> focused on the imaginary adventures of a skateboarding, pregnant Jackson, and hailed by ''The Advocate'' critic Adam Block as "A veritable John Waters film of a skinny 'zine."<ref name=":0" /> [[Bruce LaBruce]] described the zine as "an underground rag that featured [[Punk rock in California|SoCal punk scene]] gossip, photos of hot [[Huntington Beach, California|Huntington Beach]] surfers and wistful musings by Miss Davis themself."<ref name="trebay2004">{{cite web|last=Trebay|first=Guy|title=Ready to Fade into Obscurity. Wait, He's Already There|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=May 23, 2004|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/style/ready-to-fade-into-obscurity-wait-he-s-already-there.html?pagewanted=all|access-date=December 11, 2009}}</ref> Through Davis' job at [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]]'s Placement & Career Planning Center, she was allowed free access to a Xerox machine to publish the zine.<ref>{{cite web|last=Maher|first=Karen|title=Mono. Issue No. 6 – October 2011: Page 2|url=http://www.mono-zine.com/October_2011_page2.html|work=Mono|access-date=March 12, 2013|date=October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130416015442/http://www.mono-zine.com/October_2011_page2.html|archive-date=April 16, 2013|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Davis went on to develop the zine into a series of videos titled Fertile LaToyah Jackson Video Magazine, Volume 1 and 2.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last=Commondenominator|first=Lois|date=1997|title=Vaginal Davis: Speaking from the Diaphragm|url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt7489q3mv/|journal=Dragazine|type=Zine|via=Online Archive of California; University of California, Los Angeles Library Special Collections}}</ref>

===1989–1999: Bands===
Davis was well known for her <ref name=":6" /> band ¡Cholita! The Female Menudo, where she assumed the persona of a {{frac|13|1|2}}-year-old Latina<ref name=":5" /> named Graciela. Band mates included longtime collaborator [[Alice Bag]] as Sad Girl and Fertile LaToyah Jackson as Guadalupe, ages 16 and {{frac|12|1|2}} respectively.<ref name=":6" />

In 1989, Davis formed the [[speed metal]] [[Thrash metal|thrash]] band Pedro, Muriel, and Esther (PME) with [[Glen Meadmore]].<ref name="participant09" /> In PME, Davis performs as Clarence, "a white-supremacist militia-man from [[Idaho]] complete with [[ZZ Top]] beard."<ref name=":5" /> Davis had previously sung backup vocals for Meadmore, with [[RuPaul]]. PME disbanded after releasing a four-song EP on Amoeba records.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pedro, Muriel & Esther – PME / EP (Vinyl)|url=http://www.discogs.com/Pedro-Muriel-Esther-PME-EP/release/2907890|work=[[Discogs]]|year=1991 |access-date=March 12, 2013}}</ref><ref name="chicago tribune">{{cite web|last=Kot|first=Greg|title=What a Drag|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1995/09/01/what-a-drag-3/|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|access-date=March 12, 2013|date=September 1, 1995}}</ref>

Davis formed the band Black Fag in 1992 with [[Bibbe Hansen]]. Through the persona Rayvn Cymone McFarlane, Davis parodied the LA alternative scene, while engaging in performative actions such as spraying the audience with milk from her bra.<ref name=":5" /> Black Fag's album ''Passover Satyr'' was released by [[Dischord Records]] that same year and was produced by [[Sonic Youth]]'s [[Kim Gordon]].<ref name="LLC1994" /> The band's 1995 album ''11 Harrow House'' was produced by Hansen's son [[Beck]].<ref name="discography" />

In 1995, Pedro, Muriel, and Esther reunited for a performance at the Queercore '95 festival in Chicago.<ref name="chicago tribune"/> The band later released their first full-length album ''The White to Be Angry'', produced by [[Steve Albini]] in 1998 on Spectra Sonic Records.<ref name="discography"/>

===2000–2009: Move to Germany===
In Los Angeles, Davis has hosted and DJ'd a range of performance and music events, one of the most prominent being "Bricktops" (2002–2005), a weekly salon/speak-easy inspired by [[vaudevillian]] [[Ada "Bricktop" Smith]].<ref name="trebay2004"/> they also hosted and DJed a Sunday afternoon music event called "Sucker" (1994–2000). Davis and artist [[Ron Athey]] curated and hosted GIMP (2000–2001), a monthly night of performance art.

In 2006, Vaginal Davis moved from Los Angeles to Berlin, Germany.

In 2009, Pedro, Muriel and Esther reunited in a 20th-anniversary show presented in New York City by Participant Inc. as part of Performa 09.<ref name="participant09">{{cite press release
 |title        = Advanced Capitalism Reunion: Reparations And Retardations
 |publisher    = Participant Inc.
 |date         = November 16, 2009
 |url          = http://participantinc.org/uncategorized/advanced-capitalism-reunion-reparations-and-retardations/
 |access-date   = 2013-03-23
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120426052043/http://participantinc.org/uncategorized/advanced-capitalism-reunion-reparations-and-retardations/
 |archive-date = April 26, 2012
 |url-status     = dead
 |df           = mdy-all
}}</ref>

===2010–present: Performance, visual art, and teaching===
Davis' performance piece "Speaking from the Diaphragm" ran from May 15 to 27, 2010, at [[Performance Space 122]]. The show parodied television talk shows and featured interviews by [[Carole Pope]], [[Jamie Stewart (American musician)|Jamie Stewart]], [[Joel Gibb]], and [[Glen Meadmore]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Vaginal Davis Is Speaking from the Diaphragm|url=https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/vaginal-davis-is-speaking-from-the-diaphragm|work=[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]|access-date=March 12, 2013|date=March 15, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=H|first=Erika|title=Jamie Stewart guest stars in performance piece by Vaginal Davis; Xiu Xiu tour, make antiquated entreaty for a lock of your hair|url=http://www.tinymixtapes.com/news/jamie-stewart-guest-stars-performance-piece-vaginal-davis-xiu-xiu-tour-make-antiquated-entreaty|work=[[Tiny Mix Tapes]]|access-date=March 12, 2013|date=April 29, 2010}}</ref> and was co-hosted by [[Carmelita Tropicana]] and [[Jennifer Miller]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Vaginal Davis|url=http://www.studiomuseum.org/studio-blog/artists/studio-visits/vaginal-davis|work=[[Studio Museum in Harlem]]|access-date=March 12, 2013|date=July 6, 2010|archive-date=June 8, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120608010237/http://www.studiomuseum.org/studio-blog/artists/studio-visits/vaginal-davis|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In January 2012 Davis participated in the J. Paul Getty's "[[Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A., 1945-1980|Pacific Standard Time]] Performance Festival, with "My Pussy Is Still in Los Angeles (I Only Live in Berlin)"<ref>[http://pacificstandardtimefestival.org/events/my-pussy-is-still-in-los-angeles-i-only-live-in-berlin-by-vaginal-davis/ My Pussy Is Still in Los Angeles (I Only Live in Berlin) - was produced by West of Rome Public Art for Pacific Standard Time] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222131316/http://pacificstandardtimefestival.org/events/my-pussy-is-still-in-los-angeles-i-only-live-in-berlin-by-vaginal-davis/ |date=February 22, 2014 }}, and curated by [[Emi Fontana]]</ref> at Southwestern Law School, Louis XVI-style Tea Room (originally [[Bullocks Wilshire]] Department Store). April 2012, Davis debuted live her band Tenderloin as part of the festival "Camp/Anti-Camp: A Queer Guide to Everyday Life" at [[Hebbel am Ufer]]. Tenderloin's line-up consisted of Felix Knoke, Jan Klesse, [[Joel Gibb]], and Vaginal Davis performing under the alias "Dagmar Hofpfisterei.".<ref>{{cite web|title=Camp/Anti-Camp sets up in Berlin|url=http://www.expatriarch.com/2012/04/camp-anti-camp/|work=Expatriarch|access-date=March 12, 2013|date=April 12, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140409085158/http://www.expatriarch.com/2012/04/camp-anti-camp/|archive-date=April 9, 2014|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In August 2012 the band was invited by curator [[Antony Hegarty|Anthony Hegarty]] to perform at this year's [http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/music/tickets/the-voluptuous-horror-of-karen-black-tenderloin-66937 Meltdown Festival at the Southbank Centre in London] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130814034337/http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/music/tickets/the-voluptuous-horror-of-karen-black-tenderloin-66937 |date=August 14, 2013 }} with [[Kembra Pfahler]] and the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black. After the performances Tenderloin released the music video for "The Golden One" that featured drag queen the Goddess Bunny and was directed by [[Glen Meadmore]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Goddess Bunny und Tenderloin|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkjUp8jqLU4|work=YouTube|access-date=March 31, 2013|date=November 29, 2011}}</ref>

From November 9 to December 16, 2012, Davis opened her first major solo exhibition of solely visual art (as opposed to performance art), titled "HAG – small, contemporary, haggard" at the Participant Inc. in New York. The name of the show is based on the gallery that Davis hosted in her Los Angeles apartment from 1982–89.<ref>{{cite web|last=Donnelly|first=Ryann|title=The Teachings of Vaginal Davis|url=http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-opinion/conversations/2012-11-26/vaginal-davis-participant-inc/|work=[[Art in America]]|access-date=March 11, 2013|date=November 26, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Rao|first=Mallika|title=Vaginal Davis' 'HAG' Exhibit: Cult Artist Gets Major Solo Show At Participant Inc (SLIDESHOW)|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/vaginal-davis_n_2083479.html|work=[[The Huffington Post]]|access-date=March 11, 2013|date=November 7, 2012}}</ref>

Davis has traveled to various universities and educational institutions to give lectures on her life experiences, including a talk on youth hosteling at New York University's Performance Studies complex in November 2015 with German actress and friend [[Susanne Sachsse]].<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/events/1641073506134916/|title=Youth Hosteling with Vaginal Davis|website=www.facebook.com|access-date=December 3, 2016}}</ref> From December 1 to 5 of the same year, Davis teamed with avant-garde music group [[Xiu Xiu]] when they composed the score for her radical re-imagining of [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]'s opera ''[[The Magic Flute]],'' performed at the 80WSE Gallery at the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, in partnership with Berlin's [[CHEAP Kollectiv.]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2015/december/magic-flute-reinvented-at-80wse.html|title=Steinhardt and Berlin-based CHEAP Kollektiv Reinvent The Magic Flute at 80WSE Gallery|date=December 1, 2015|website=NYU|access-date=December 3, 2016}}</ref>

In mid-October 2016, Davis was a keynote speaker at the Creative Time Summit in Washington, D.C., a conference on art and social issues which featured workshops and speeches on topics ranging from the [[Black Lives Matter]] movement to electoral politics.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://creativetime.org/summit/dc-2016/|title=Creative Time Summit DC: Occupy the Future|website=Creative Time Summit|publisher=Creative Time, Inc.|access-date=December 3, 2016}}</ref>

In 2024, her work was included in ''Xican-a.o.x. Body'' a major group exhibition at the [[Pérez Art Museum Miami]], Florida, which traveled from the [[The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture|Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture]] of the Riverside Art Museum, California. A scholarly publication was released by Chicago University Press in tandem with the show.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Xican-a.o.x. Body • Pérez Art Museum Miami |url=https://www.pamm.org/en/exhibition/xican-a-o-x-body/ |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=Pérez Art Museum Miami |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/on1373831827 |title=Xican-a.o.x. body |date=2024 |publisher=American Federation of Arts ; Hirmer Publishers |isbn=978-3-7774-4168-9 |editor-last=Fajardo-Hill |editor-first=Cecilia |location=New York, NY : Munich, Germany |oclc=on1373831827 |editor-last2=Del Toro |editor-first2=Marissa |editor-last3=Vicario |editor-first3=Gilbert |editor-last4=Chavez |editor-first4=Mike |editor-last5=Chavoya |editor-first5=C. Ondine |editor-last6=Salseda |editor-first6=Rose |editor-last7=Valencia |editor-first7=Joseph Daniel |editor-last8=Villaseñor Black |editor-first8=Charlene |editor-last9=Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum}}</ref> 

==Artistry==
Davis has been accepted as an artist in the queer community more recently, but "the gay world [only] became more open to what [she] did after [she] established [her]self outside of the gay world."<ref name="This Is Not a Dream">{{Citation|last=This Is Not a Dream|title=THIS IS NOT A DREAM - Vaginal Davis|date=2017-06-03|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A03i57f53E4|access-date=2017-10-12}}</ref> For many years, Davis felt as though she was "too gay for the punk scene and too punk for the gay."<ref name="This Is Not a Dream"/>

[[José Esteban Muñoz]] has identified Davis as a progenitor of "terrorist drag,"<ref name="Vaginal Davis' Biography"/><ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/terrorist-drag-vaginal-davis|title=The "Terrorist Drag" of Vaginal Davis|last=Dunham|first=Grace|date=2015-12-12|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=2017-10-12|issn=0028-792X}}</ref> for Davis was neither "glamour" like New York performers [[Candis Cayne]] and [[Lina Bradford|Girlina]], nor "clown" ([[Camp (style)|camp]]) like drag queens [[Varla Jean Merman]] and [[Lady Bunny]]. According to Davis, "I wasn't really trying to alter myself to look like a real woman. I didn't wear false eyelashes or fake breasts. It wasn't about the real-ness of traditional drag – the perfect flawless makeup. I just put on a little lipstick, a little eyeshadow and a wig and went there."<ref name="Jones2003">{{cite book|author=José Esteban Muñoz|title=The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E5zCts8ax58C&pg=PA217|access-date=March 12, 2013|year=2003|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-26706-9|pages=217–224|author-link=José Esteban Muñoz}}</ref> Davis has several drag personas, including Princess Sellica the Sensual Psychic, R&B legend Lestar Vartan and Lieutenant Vaginal Davis of the Sexualese Liberation Front.<ref name=":5" /> Dominic Johnson of ''[[frieze (magazine)|Frieze]]'' said, "Ms Davis consistently refuses to ease conservative tactics within gay and black politics, employing punk music, invented biography, insults, self-mockery, and repeated incitements to group sexual revolt." Davis has been critical of the co-optation of African, Hispanic, and LGBT culture by the mainstream.<ref name="Vaginal Davis' Biography" />

Davis' performances are also, according to journalist Ali Fitzgerald, "giddy, satirical stabs at the old-world order, leveling criticism at white privilege and the patriarchy with nuanced wit and game-show-style camp. The Vaginal Davis persona is a complex mixture of queercore punk antics and MGM studio glamour, reflecting Davis' socially engaged and aesthetically consistent interests."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://blog.art21.org/2013/06/25/queer-berlin-a-look-back-at-the-career-of-vaginal-davis/|title=A Look Back at the Career of Vaginal Davis|last=Fitzgerald|first=Ali|date=June 25, 2013|website=Art21 Magazine|access-date=December 3, 2016}}</ref> She was also a muse to German choreographer [[Pina Bausch]], as well as fashion designer [[Rick Owens]] and photographer [[Catherine Opie]].<ref name="Vaginal Davis' Biography" /> [[Jamie Stewart (American musician)|Jamie Stewart]] of [[Xiu Xiu]] also stated that "I am bi and found artists that were androgynous hit me hard – [[Peter Murphy (musician)|Peter Murphy]], [[David Bowie]], [[Morrissey]]. But there was a drag queen named Vaginal Davis that changed my life. I had no idea you could be punk and a drag queen and ultra intense and insane and hot and brilliant all at the same time."<ref>{{Cite web|title=the newest stuff|url=http://www.vaginaldavis.com/new.shtml|access-date=December 3, 2016|website=Vaginal Davis}}</ref>

Davis also claims, in a 2015 interview with ''Bedford and Brooklyn''{{'}}s Nicole Disser, that much of her artwork and performances are inspired by her late mother's artistic ability, stating, "I'm so intertwined with my mother. My whole career as an artist, and all of my visual art, is basically co-opting my mother. My mother didn't consider herself an artist, she just made stuff. Looking back to the things that she did, they were installations, assemblages – things in the art world that have proper names to them – she was doing this way back then. If I get any notice for any of my artworks or any of my performances, it's because I just copied my mother."<ref name=":3" />

In 2018, Davis was awarded $10,000 U.S. Dollars for receiving the Sustained Achievement Award from the non-profit organization Queer|Art, which offers support and mentorship to LGBTQIA+ identifying artists.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/vaginal-davis-wins-10000-queerartprize-sustained-achievement-award-11156/|title=Vaginal Davis Wins $10,000 Queer&#124;Art&#124;Prize for Sustained Achievement|first1=Shirley|last1=Nwangwa|website=Artnews.com|date=October 11, 2018|access-date=September 18, 2020}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Davis has chosen to keep her exact birth year, as well as the name she was given at birth, secret.

==Discography==
===The Afro Sisters===
* ''Indigo, Sassafras & Molasses'' (1978)
* ''Maxis on Melrose'' (1980)
* ''So Black I'm Blue'' (1981)
* ''Too Black, Too Strong'' (1982)
* ''Shoulder Pads, Maxi Pads'' (1983)
* ''Magnificent Product'' (1984)
* ''Armed & Extremely Dangerous'' (1985)
* ''Wet Lesbian'' (1986)

===Black Fag===
* ''Parerga y Paralipomena'' (1992)
* ''Atlas Shrugged'' (1993)
* ''Passover Satyr'' (1994)
* ''11 Harrow House'' (1995)

===¡Cholita! The Female Menudo===
* ''¡No Controles!'' (1987)
* ''Chicas De Hoy'' (1989)
* ''¡Cholita!'' (1996)

===Pedro, Muriel & Esther===
* ''PME'' (1991)
* ''The White to Be Angry'' (1998)

===Solo===
* ''Small Whyte House'' (Vaginal Davis and Robespierre) (1994)

===Other appearances===
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!scope="col"| Title
!scope="col"| Year
!scope="col"| Album
|-
!scope="row"| "Well, Well, Well" <span style="font-size:85%;">([[Le Tigre]] featuring Vaginal Davis)</span>
|rowspan="6"| 2004
|rowspan="1"| ''[[Feminist Sweepstakes]]'' (2004 re-issue)<ref>{{cite web|title=Le Tigre – Feminist Sweepstakes (Vinyl, LP, Album)|url=http://www.discogs.com/Le-Tigre-Feminist-Sweepstakes/release/1124321|work=[[Discogs]]|date=August 24, 2004 |access-date=March 12, 2013}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"| "I Could Have Sex" <span style="font-size:85%;">(Technova featuring Vaginal Davis)</span>
|rowspan="5"| ''Electrosexual''<ref>{{cite web|title=Technova – Electrosexual (CD, Album)|url=http://www.discogs.com/Technova-Electrosexual/release/337072|work=[[Discogs]]|access-date=March 12, 2013}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"| "Mama's Not Dead" <span style="font-size:85%;">(Technova featuring Vaginal Davis)</span>
|-
!scope="row"| "My Pussy is a Cactus" <span style="font-size:85%;">(Technova featuring Vaginal Davis)</span>
|-
!scope="row"| "Mangina" <span style="font-size:85%;">(Technova featuring Vaginal Davis)</span>
|-
!scope="row"| "Bitterest Pill" <span style="font-size:85%;">(Technova featuring Vaginal Davis)</span>
|-
!scope="row"| "Girls Like Us" <span style="font-size:85%;">([[The Julie Ruin]] featuring Vaginal Davis)</span>
|rowspan="1"| 2012
| Non-album single<ref>{{cite web|last=Pelly|first=Jenn|title=Listen: Kathleen Hanna's Band the Julie Ruin Share First New Track: "Girls Like Us"|url=https://pitchfork.com/news/49018-listen-kathleen-hannas-band-the-julie-ruin-share-first-new-track-girls-like-us/|work=[[Pitchfork Media]]|access-date=March 11, 2013|date=December 28, 2012}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row| "Faith, Torn Apart" <span style="font-size:85%;">([[Xiu Xiu]] featuring Vaginal Davis)</span>
|rowspan="1"| 2017
|rowspan="1"|''[[Forget (Xiu Xiu album)|FORGET]]''
|}

==Filmography==
===Film===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year 
! Title 
! Role 
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
|1987
|''A Doll's House''
|
|
|-
|1988
|''I, Vaginal''
|
|
|-
|1991
|''The Devil's Daughter''
|
|
|-
|1994
|''Dot''
|Dorothy Parker
|
|-

 
| 1994
| ''Designy Living''
|
|
|-
| 1994
| ''Three Faces of Women''
|
| Director- Rick Castro
|-
| 1995
| ''[[Super 8½]]''
|
|
|-
| 1995
| ''[[Live Nude Girls]]''
| Pool Man
|
|-
| 1996
| ''[[Hustler White]]''
| Buster Boote
|
|-
| 1998
| ''[[Ron Athey|Hallelujah! Ron Athey: A Story of Deliverance]]''
| Herself
|
|-
| 1999
| ''The White To Be Angry''
|
| Director; short film
|-
| 1999
| ''Can I Be Your Bratwurst, Please?''
|
| Director; short film
|-
| 2001
| ''The Other Newest One''
|
| Director; short film
|-
| 2001
| ''Le Petite Tonkinoise''
|
| Director; short film
|-
| 2001
| ''Fra unter Einfluss''
|
| Director; short film
|-
| 2005
| ''Beyond Lovely''
| Bruce B.
| Short film
|-
| 2006
| ''The Pikme-Up''
| Herself
|
|-
| 2008
| ''[[The Lollipop Generation]]''
| Beulah Blacktress
|
|-
| 2010
| ''The Dream of Norma''
| Norma
| Short film
|-
| 2010
| ''The Bad Breast; or, The Strange Case of Theda Strange''
|
| Short film
|-
|2010
|Teddy´s Beastiary. Letters to the Parents
|Th.W. Adorno, his aunt
|Dir. Bear Boy (short)
|-
| 2011
| ''The Advocate for Fagdom''
| Herself
|<ref>{{cite news |last1=Felperin |first1=Leslie |title=The Advocate for Fagdom |url=https://variety.com/2011/film/reviews/the-advocate-for-fagdom-1117944707/ |access-date=16 May 2019 |work=Variety |date=23 February 2011 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Klág |first1=Dávid Klág |title=Bruce LaBruce: 'The Advocate For Fagdom' |url=http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/11784/1/bruce-labruce-the-advocate-for-fagdom |website=Dazed |access-date=16 May 2019 |language=en |date=25 October 2011}}</ref>
|-
| 2012
| ''Rosas Welt – 70 neue Filme von Rosa von Praunheim''
| Marta Feuchtwanger
|
|-
|2012
| ''She Said Boom: The Story of Fifth Column''
| Herself
|
|-
|2012
|Hippo Narcissus
|Th.W.Adorno
|Dir. Bear Boy (short)
|}

===Television===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1993
| ''[[Tales of the City (1993 miniseries)|Tales of the City]]''
| Endup Emcee
|
|-
| 2001
| ''[[Gideon's Crossing]]''
| Eddie
| Episode 9: "Is There a Wise Man in the House?"
|-
|}

==Zine-ography==
* ''Dowager'' (1972-1975)<ref name=":2" />
* ''Crude'' (1976-1980)
* ''Fertile La Toya Jackson'' (1982-1991)
* ''Shrimp'' (1993)
* ''Yes, Ms. Davis'' (1994)
* ''Sucker'' (1995-1997)
* ''Dragazine'' (1997)<ref name=":2" />

==Other==
Davis’s name appears in the lyrics of the [[Le Tigre]] song "[[Hot Topic (song)|Hot Topic]]."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://slate.com/culture/2019/10/hot-topic-lyrics-le-tigre-who-is.html|title=57 Champions of Queer Feminism, All Name-Dropped in One Impossibly Catchy Song|first=Tammy|last=Oler|date=October 31, 2019|website=Slate Magazine}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* José Muñoz, ''Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics'' (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999) {{ISBN|0-8166-3015-1}}
* Jennifer Doyle, ''Sex Objects: Art and the Dialectics of Desire'' (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006). {{ISBN|0-8166-4526-4}}

==External links==
{{commons}}
* {{Official website}}
* {{IMDb name}}
* [https://zinewiki.com/wiki/Vaginal_Davis The Zines of Vaginal Davis]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150425060707/http://www.alicebag.com/cholitastoryof.html The Cholita! Page]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120717012138/http://www.alicebag.com/cholitafamilytree.html The Cholita! Family Tree, compiled by Ms. Davis]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110929122414/http://nsrc.sfsu.edu/article/lollipop_generation Vaginal Davis in ''The Lollipop Generation'']
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061009044012/http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_11.23.00/columns/feelings.html Bruce LaBruce essay on Davis]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Vaginal}}
[[Category:1959 births]]
[[Category:Date of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:21st-century African-American musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American musicians]]
[[Category:African-American drag queens]]
[[Category:African-American film directors]]
[[Category:African-American LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:American drag queens]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Germany]]
[[Category:American experimental filmmakers]]
[[Category:American intersex writers]]
[[Category:American LGBTQ singers]]
[[Category:American non-binary artists]]
[[Category:American non-binary musicians]]
[[Category:American non-binary writers]]
[[Category:American punk rock singers]]
[[Category:Film directors from California]]
[[Category:Intersex musicians]]
[[Category:Intersex non-binary people]]
[[Category:LGBTQ people from California]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Non-binary drag performers]]
[[Category:Non-binary singers]]
[[Category:Performance art in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Queercore musicians]]
[[Category:Drag performers from Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Drag performers from New York City]]