Brighton artist creates exhibition about vaginismus

An artist has created an exhibition to raise awareness of the condition vaginismus.

Phoebe Wingrove, from Brighton, East Sussex, said she hoped her photography would “fill in the gaps missing from women’s health and education”.

The display features abstract photographs representing the artist’s friend Matilda Godson’s experience of the condition after four years of misdiagnosis.

The exhibition – In the Dark: Vaginismus – is on show at the Phoenix Art Space, in Brighton, until Sunday.

The NHS describes vaginismus as the body’s automatic reaction to the fear of some or all types of vaginal penetration.

It can be painful and upsetting, but can be treated, according to the NHS.

Ms Wingrove, who began the project after she was diagnosed with HPV in 2021, said women were often “in the dark about their own bodies”.

“By creating abstract images with no identity attached to them, I’m able to ethically visualise health experiences, allowing visitors with experience of the condition to put themselves into the pictures,” she said.

“It also allows visitors without previous knowledge or experience to encompass the feelings and learn something new.”

The exhibition showcases 15 abstract pink and black images, as well as poetry written by Ms Godson and a soundscape composed by Joseph Mills.

Ms Godson said participating in the project was “a cathartic and confirming experience”.

“As women, we tend to want to forget the bad things in our lives, especially the pain, for fear that we’ll become bitter,” she said.

“But when I spoke about vaginismus, I realised how important it was for me to still be angry about the way I’d been ignored, misled and cast aside.”