‘My body has power’: Cara Delevingne’s vagina monologue

CARA DELEVINGNE has created a piece of conceptual artwork about her vagina. “My first word was ‘mine’. To me, that means something that is most mine, my vagina,” the naked, make-up-free model says to the camera as the handwritten words appear on-screen. “I own it. It’s mine and no one else’s. I choose what I do with it. And no one can take that away from me.”

The piece, entitled Mine, is a one-of-a-kind NFT made in collaboration with anonymous artist Chemical X — who has worked with Banksy and Damien Hirst — for his new site ThisIsNumberOne.com. The platform will also feature digital artwork from DJ Fatboy Slim, Dave Stewart from Eurythmics and Brit dance music duo Orbital.

Before we go any further, you may be wondering what an NFT is. I know I was. After much Googling, I understand it as this: NFT stands for non-fungible token and is essentially a unique digital artwork that lives on the blockchain. Anyone can view the work (you can see Delevingne’s full vagina NFT on standard.co.uk/insider, for example) but only one person owns it. Much like anyone can buy a David Hockney print but only one person owns the original.

It’s big business and NFTs have started selling for millions. In March, work by a digital artist known as Beeple was auctioned at Christie’s for $69 million (£49 million), a few months ago, someone bid $400,000 (£283,000) for a 50-second video clip by Grimes and earlier this year, DJ Steve Aoki sold his collection of NFTs for $4.25 million (£3 million). Delevingne is a fan of the format and has herself bought a Chemical X NFT for $100,000 (£71,000).

All of the proceeds from the actress’s artwork will go to her Cara Delevingne Foundation which supports women’s rights, the LGBTQ+ community, mental health and environment causes. The site launches today, bidding will last for seven days and the accepted currency is Bitcoin, naturally.

Of her piece, Delevingne said: “I want this to remind people of how incredibly powerful they are, what a beautiful thing their bodies are and to take pride in that.”

⬤ ThisIsNumberOne.com