BBH London is spreading posters of “borrowed” vaginas across London and online. It’s an emergency crowdfunding appeal for The Vagina Museum, the world’s first bricks-and-mortar museum dedicated to vaginas, vulvas and the gynaecological anatomy, to raise funds to avoid closure.
The Vagina Museum plays a crucial role in breaking the stigma surrounding gynecological anatomy and contributing to a broader cultural shift from shame to celebration. Without urgent financial support, the museum will be forced to shut its doors, cease all digital activities, and end their mission to educate, empower, and break taboos.
BBH London’s tactical campaign shows renowned artwork from British museums, to challenge visitors and funders to get behind the real masterpiece – the vagina. While other museums fill their walls with shallow representations of the female anatomy, The Vagina Museum gives this the attention it deserves.
In the urgent plea for support, the museum says on its fundraising page that “we are battered from all sides.” Reproductive rights are in crisis. Women’s rights are in crisis. LGBT+ rights are in crisis. Arts and culture are in crisis.
Since its founding, the Vagina Museum has been a bold, unapologetic space for education, activism and community, breaking stigmas and fostering conversations that are often overlooked or silenced.
Earlier this year, the museum was forced to crowdfund its latest exhibition, Menopause: What’s Changed?, due to a lack of interest from arts and heritage funders. More than 1700 people have since visited the exhibition, which is a celebration of this common life event which will affect half of the population but is shrouded in taboos and misconceptions.
Zoe Williams, director of the Vagina Museum, stated, “We stand defiant in a world that needs us, even when it does not always want us. This is a critical moment. If we do not meet our fundraising target, we will determine how best to use the funds raised—whether to sustain operations for a few more months while seeking longer-term funding or to explore alternative ways to continue our work. But to survive, we need your help now.”
Camila Gurgel, senior creative at BBH, added, “The Vagina Museum is doing essential work that no other museum is taking on. Yet, while they struggle to secure funding for their exhibitions, other London museums receive millions to display superficial representations of the female body. So, we took matters into our own hands—stealing their vaginas to promote ours, and inviting people to a space that truly celebrates the masterpiece that is the real vagina.”
Link to the crowdfunding campaign.
Credits:
Client: The Vagina Museum
Founder: Florence Schechter
Director : Zoe Williams
Advertising Agency: BBH
Executive Creative Director: Felipe Guimaraes
Senior Creatives: Camila Gurgel and Ieva Paulina
Designer: Keiti Collins
Client Managing Director: James Rice
Account Director: Caroline Barton
Head of Strategy: Saskia Jones
Art Producer: Lauren Daniels
Artworker: Dave Walsh
Media Agency: Electric Glue
Media Director: Richard Bond
