Picasso and the Pussy

Having been invited to participate in a group exhibition called Legitimate Vagina, I decided to structure an interactive performance around the many images of female nudes created by Picasso.  I devised a game in which participants were invited to match a close-up view of female genitalia with the source artwork.  Additionally, I challenged people to think about Picasso’s ambivalent relationship to women:  he loved to love them — physically — but he was abusive to many of the many women in his life.  I then posed the crucial question: if other men share Picasso’s attitudes and behaviors, what have been the social, political, and economic consequences for women?