The Vulgar Feminine explores how female sexuality is often labelled as vulgar when it exists outside of patriarchal control. The collection challenges the cultural double standards that frame women’s expressions of desire, emotion and identity as excessive or inappropriate, while male desire remains accepted and legitimised.

The work reclaims vulgarity as a form of feminist resistance. It confronts the traditional depiction of women as passive objects of the male gaze by presenting the female form with agency, defiance and discomfort. Through print, material and image, the collection embraces eroticism, rage and emotional intensity, while questioning who decides what is tasteful or acceptable.

Influenced by feminist theorists including Laura Mulvey, Judith Butler and Julia Kristeva, the project addresses the ways femininity is policed through class, power and social norms. It also reflects on how women are often dehumanised through language and representation, reduced to animals, objects or abject bodies.

Rather than offering a softened or playful version of femininity, The Vulgar Feminine embraces its messy, grotesque and confrontational edges. It invites the viewer to sit with discomfort and to reconsider how vulgarity can be a tool for liberation.