Vaginal Davis (born February 23, 1969) is an American performing
artist, painter, independent curator, composer, filmmaker and writer.
Born intersex and raised in South Central, Los Angeles, Davis gained
notoriety in New York during the 1980s, where she inspired the
Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn's prevalent drag scene as a
genderqueer artist. She currently resides in Berlin, Germany.Growing
up, Davis lived with her mother, originally from Louisiana, and four
older sisters. Her mother was Black Creole, her father was of Mexican
and Jewish descent, and her grandfather was of German descent, with
Davis stating that he was born in Wannsee and the "black sheep" of the
von Hohenzollern dynasty. 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. At age 7, Davis saw 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.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 performâ€" or tried to
performâ€" 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 Davisâ€" it's a
homage to that.' And they'd say, 'Well who's that?' They didn't know
who Angela Davis was."
artist, painter, independent curator, composer, filmmaker and writer.
Born intersex and raised in South Central, Los Angeles, Davis gained
notoriety in New York during the 1980s, where she inspired the
Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn's prevalent drag scene as a
genderqueer artist. She currently resides in Berlin, Germany.Growing
up, Davis lived with her mother, originally from Louisiana, and four
older sisters. Her mother was Black Creole, her father was of Mexican
and Jewish descent, and her grandfather was of German descent, with
Davis stating that he was born in Wannsee and the "black sheep" of the
von Hohenzollern dynasty. 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. At age 7, Davis saw 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.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 performâ€" or tried to
performâ€" 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 Davisâ€" it's a
homage to that.' And they'd say, 'Well who's that?' They didn't know
who Angela Davis was."
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