Q&A | Viktoria Krug is Changing Our View of the Vulva

When it comes to showcasing the diverse beauty of the vulva, 31-year-old Viktoria Krug knows that a statue is worth a thousand words. Working out of her Vulvarium studio in Graz, Austria, and taking her ‘mobile vulva casting studio’ around the world, she makes plaster casts of people’s vulvas and uses them to create elegant, one-of-a-kind sculptures that are impossible to ignore.

To talk with Viktoria is to instantly feel her joy in helping vulva-owners appreciate the uniqueness and power of this part of their bodies. And we particularly love that her mission is to educate and celebrate, never to sexualize, which creates an atmosphere of safety and self-care for her client-models and the 100k+ international fans of her Instagram feed.

If you’ve yet to discover Viktoria, we’re delighted introduce you to her work and share the conversation we had recently about how she began vulva casting, the stories she hears from fellow vulva-owners, and the infuriating time a gynecologist bragged about how easy it is to “fix” labia that looked like “elephant ears.”

Viktoria will be in Chicago between September 18th to October 1st! Consider signing up to have your vulva cast. All vulvas are welcome, including trans vulvas, pregnancy vulvas, postpartum vulvas, and post-menopause vulvas.

First of all, how did you become a vulva caster?

So, I’ve always been a crafty person, but I’ve never done anything with the arts. I actually have a degree in biology and was training to teach English and Biology. But then this all started when I was 27 and saw the work of Lydia Reeves, a body casting artist who does similar things. It was the first time I had ever come across the diversity of vulvas. I had not seen other vulvas before. I had not learned about the term vulva before. I hadn’t even heard it before.

All I could think was how is it even possible that I've been living in this body for 27 years and I have a degree in biology and no one even told me this is called a vulva??? Am I stupid? What did I miss in school?

I’ve always thought Europe would have better sex education than the U.S. Sounds like that’s not the case?

I'm from the south of Austria and I went to school here, but I also studied in Argentina for a year and a half. And I've traveled a lot. So this is also why I was so shocked to learn about the term 'vulva.' It's not like I never left my little town in the middle of the countryside. I didn't live in a cave. I had loving relationships. I had lots of friends. I saw the world. And still, I didn't know.

And from my work, I can tell you, I have done more than 1500 or 1800 vulva castings in France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, and everyone basically says the same thing. We didn't learn about it in school. We didn't hear it from our parents. It's a big taboo. There's a lot of shame.

On Instagram, people from all over the world tell me they're not allowed to talk about it or they feel ashamed to talk about it.

It’s hard to not feel frustrated that we’re not further along.

That's when you realize there's so much potential. We are just at the beginning of discovering it all, of knowing what we like, what we don't like. We're just learning how to communicate and learning to explore ourselves.

Many of us in Western countries are the first generation of our families who really have the freedom to think about and appreciate and explore our bodies. Think about your parents and your grandparents. I'm sure they had a very different reality when it comes to what was expected from a woman or from someone with a vulva. So we are here now and it’s just like, you know, what's going to happen next?

I love that you're framing it in terms of potential.

Once you know, you can't not know. And you want to tell your friends, you want to tell your kids, you want to tell your parents, you want to tell your partners.

The desire to share knowledge about the body is a big reason that many people decide to have their vulvas cast. They don’t just want to do it for themselves. They want to show vulva diversity and to support me so that I can continue to do this work. You really see this collective wish for change and it’s so amazing. I love it so much.

So how did learning the term 'vulva' turn into making vulva statues?

It spiked a conversation with my partner and, of course, he knew about how different vulvas could look because he had seen a few. And so he asks me, don't you show it to each other? And I was thinking no, not in my world, we don't!

So we decided to make a copy of my vulva and it turned out fantastic. When I saw the statue we made, I loved it. And I was like, wow, I'm sure more people want to feel this way that I'm feeling right now. So I started doing vulva castings for other people.

What is the colorful stuff that you use to create your casts?

So that stuff is an actual product and it’s the same thing that dentists put in your mouth when they want to make copies of your teeth. It's called alginate and it's made from algae so it's super skin friendly. It can go onto your mouth and it can go onto the vulva.

Can you describe how the casting works?

I will mix the alginate with water and put it straight onto the vulva and then that takes a copy of everything — or really a negative mold. On top of that the alginate, I put some plaster bandages to give it more stability. Afterwards, I pour plaster into the mold and let it dry, then I cut it and shape it. Last, I check to see if there are technical things that need adjusting and then paint it whatever color the person has chosen.

People can also order a vulva-casting kit from my website, and I also teach other people how to make vulva casts and either create statues or send the casts to me so I can create them.

What did you do with that first statue of your own vulva?

I've had it now for four years, and it's kind of confronting, in a good way. You know, sometimes it represents my sexuality. So if there's something going on that I'm not a hundred percent comfortable with, I look at a statue and I think about these things, or if I have a painful menstrual cycle, I'm thinking, ah, there it is. It continuously talks to me and reminds me that this body part in my pants deserves a bit more attention.

But in the beginning, I didn't like how it looked. I was like, is it really that big? It's so big! And then I was like, all right, yeah, I guess that's it. It's a process that continues to work on me, and it's good because it feels like I'm growing, I'm learning.

This idea that vulvas are supposed to be delicate is so ingrained, even though it’s not true.

I have to tell you about a time I was traveling here in Austria and had to go to a new gynecologist. During my appointment, he asked about my job, so I mentioned that I make vulva statues because I want to show diversity and counteract the pressure some women feel to get labiaplasty.

To my shock, he said in a voice that was so casual: if someone has ‘elephant ears’ we can cut them away – you don’t even have to go to a plastic surgeon because gynecologists can do it, too. He went on to tell me he could just claim that your labia were bothering you when riding a bike or during intercourse so that insurance would pay for it, because then it’s not considered cosmetic.

He said all this to my face even after I told him that I cared about showing vulva diversity. And I’ve heard other people tell me that their insecurities started because their gynecologist suggested “doing something” about their labia.

I don’t think these gynecologists are trying to do harm, they just haven’t been taught about vulva diversity themselves.

Do you think it’s important that the person doing what you’re doing has a vulva?

I would never say that someone with a penis couldn't make a great casting. That’s like saying a male psychologist couldn’t effectively treat a female patient. But I will say that, during casting sessions, people tell me about things that they have experienced in relation to their body that I maybe have never experienced, yet I still feel it to my core.

You know, there is some level of mutual understanding because we just know what it means to live in this world and in this society with this body.

As you talk to people, you notice any patterns in their stories and why they want a casting?

It’s always very personal motivation, but all-in-all, it's people who want to appreciate this body part more. So some may have negative experiences and want to heal a bit of their trauma by seeing a gold shining, beautiful statue of their vulva.

Some people are already loving and celebrating their vulva and they want to celebrate it even more. And one of the biggest groups of people who come to get a vulva casting is moms with daughters who want to figure out their own vulva and sexuality so they can talk positively with their kids.

The main thing I hear is, hey, here is this body part that I don't feel I have taken care of enough and I want to get to know it a bit more and I want to give it the positive space that it deserves.

Learn more about Viktoria, order a DIY vulva casting kit, and view dozens of gorgeously diverse vulva statues on her website. Interested in becoming a vulva caster? Check out her classes!