Project Sheela: Ancient Irish Symbols Reborn as Feminist Street Icons

It was 8 March 2020, during the celebration of International Women’s Day in Dublin, Ireland. The street walls held something overwhelming for passersby. The murals and graffiti of naked women with exaggerated features, showing their sexuality in an unabashed way, stopped the onlookers in their tracks. The images looked at once startling and familiar, as random works of shock! No, they weren’t! These were part of Project Sheela, a contemporary feminist street art movement reclaiming the medieval stone carvings of women, also known as Sheela na gigs in Irish folktales.

Sheela na Gig from St. Michael at the North Gate Church

In Ireland, some ancient stone carvings depict women with large, exposed vulvas. Scholars attribute this open showcase of genitalia either as warnings against lust, or as pagan fertility symbols. They are also believed to be symbols of protection against evils in some Irish communities. So, the debate continues.

What about the modern gig line of 2020? It is a colloquial way of referring to the carvings, which is controversial, and unmistakably a part of Ireland’s religious and spiritual heritage. Despite their presence in various places across Ireland, they were dismissed as grotesque or indecent.

Still, they endured as enigmatic female figures, provocateurs, and protectors, and that’s how these bold carvings and murals became a part of feminist art on the street walls, celebrated on International Women’s Day, 8^th March, 2020. Why was Dublin chosen as the site for such a rare showcase? To explore, you must follow the trail.

Who Were These Sheela na Gigs?

Sheela na gigs | Ancient sculptures of women with open vulva

Let’s meet the mysterious figures known as Sheela na gigs! These are the medieval carvings on stones that started appearing around the 12^th century, beside churches, castles, and bridges across the countryside of Ireland and Britain, and some parts of France. The origin of the name Sheela na gig is shrouded in mystery, but many interpret them as the derivative of the ‘Sheela of the vagina’ – a concept that signifies the act of a woman reaching down to open her legs and to show her protruding vulva to the countryside.

Why did these peculiar figures appear on the sides of the medieval churches? To understand this, we must go back to the pagan roots. In Latin, the word ‘paganus’ means country-dweller or villager. So, here the context of the countryside fits.

These stone carvings were placed beside the churches for several reasons. Looking back, we see how beliefs intermingled with the rise of Christianity. To know it better, we must look into the symbolism of the vulva in ancient culture and even beyond. One of the reasons they appear beside the churches is because of protection.

Amazingly, in the ancient world, vaginas and particularly the pictorial vulvas, were seen as literal badges of protection! It was believed that by simply lifting their skirts, women could ward off evil and demons. Even in the 1800s, there were depictions of women lifting their dresses and revealing their vulvas to scare the devil away.

How could vulvas offer protection? They were considered the origin of life, arguably the oldest symbol of human imagination – a source of divine energy and earth wisdom. So, these ancient symbols of protection were placed beside the churches to help people embrace Christianity, and they also served as evidence of Sheelas marking boundaries between territories, creating sovereignty in the land.

Why Reclaim Sheela na Gigs Today?

Sheela na Gig in the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic

Let’s fast forward to the 21^st century, where women’s bodies are treated as sites of scrutiny, censorship, and socio-cultural battles. Ireland’s own feminist history is deeply marked by the fight for abortion rights and debates on modesty. Project Sheela, as one of the contemporary feminist art projects of this century, reclaims empowerment for women and challenges body shaming.  

Even today, the Sheelas are used as agents of blessings. Women would actually go and rub the vulva on the Sheelas to ask for things like fertility or ease in childbirth. Their continued presence from the medieval period into the present shows us the aspect of the divine we call feminine. And, strikingly enough, the feminine is not about gender; female, male, or non-binary! Feminine is an energy mostly associated with earth energy, connecting to its deepest rhythm, power, and sovereignty.

By taking these medieval carvings off church walls and fitting them into feminist street art, the project sparks conversations about visibility and women’s rights, turning blank walls into cultural spaces.

Where centuries of patriarchal interpretation reduced Sheela na gigs to warnings or oddities, Project Sheela reframes them as bold affirmations of female agency.

Feminist Art as a Medium to Reclaim Urban Spaces  

In contemporary times, city walls house graffiti as a protest and proclamation of the rights of the underrepresented and marginalized. That’s where Project Sheela steps in, merging art and politics. It makes the most of this political space, using it as a canvas to democratize feminist art, making it accessible to everyone. The murals and graffiti create resonance, exposing viewers to a mixed sense of awe, shock, and curiosity around blown-up women’s body parts.

This sheer display of the vulva, accentuated with color and bold outlines, ensures that Sheela na gigs are not just confined to dusty history books but live on as a vibrant part of contemporary feminist art projects.

Sheela na Gigs and Body Politics

Sheela na gig | the 'big vagina' imagery

As discussed earlier, Sheela na gigs were used as protection against evil in ancient times. In today’s murals, they do a similar thing but in a different form. Their unapologetic embrace of the ‘big vagina’ imagery becomes relevant to feminist discourse, reclaiming what was once dispelled and censored. In the age of social media shout-outs and viral posts that outright slam nudity, Project Sheela resurfaces as a radical act of body positivity.

It's a kind of rebirth of the age-old protection Irish tattoos! The symbolism that once protected women from demons and wild beasts now guards them from the overbearing  patriarchal gaze. The innovative street art promotes Sheela na Gigs Ireland from passive stone relics to active agents in the urban landscape.

They remind us that feminist art is not about creating new symbols, but also reclaiming those misinterpreted and buried with time. Drawing from history, the gig line of Project Sheela connects past and present, creating a seamless harmony of representation.

The Global Relevance of Project Sheela

All over the world, women are reclaiming cultural icons and the female archetypes once censored and ignored. Project Sheela falls in line with that global feminist voice. Although Dublin was chosen as the site for the murals, they have a deep universal appeal. Though considered as Dublin street art, the project contributes to a global art narrative that redefines the female body as a powerful medium rather than an object of shame!

Why It Matters: The Symbols of Creativity and Resistance

Sheela na gig in British Museum

From pagan power to feminist murals on the streets, Project Sheela reclaims women’s agency and forces us to rethink how history has treated the female body as something sacred, obscene, protective, and powerful – a contrasting space that includes ‘Venus paintings’ to ‘witch imageries’ as archetypes.

Through their daring show of femininity, female graffiti artists affirm that visibility matters. When women represent their own bodies, they celebrate them as symbols of resistance, creativity, and protection, not as subjects of ridicule.

Project Sheela: More of Art Activism

Yes, Project Sheela is more than art; it is art activism. The bold, unapologetic figures of Sheela na Gig pose uneasy questions to the onlookers – staring back from Dublin walls, with the same raw energy they once carried on stone relics beside churches. These feminist street icons become storytellers and provocateurs in a society that still negotiates how women’s bodies are perceived and represented in the 21^st century.

The project honors the wild wisdom and energy in women, reinterpreting them as symbols of empowerment, bridging rural folklore and urban street art, silence and protest. In their wide-open gaze, they dare us to imagine a world where women’s bodies are neither hidden nor shamed, where the exposed vulvas are no longer vulgar, but celebrated as gateways to the divine earth energy and remembered as powerful sites of history, art, and resistance.