Meet the Woman Who Makes Art Out of Semen

Most artists draw inspiration from a pretty landscape, flowers, or loved ones. Faith Holland is inspired by semen.

Holland debuted “Sub/emissions,” a painting made of digitally altered images of semen (you can see it above), as part of her Technophilia show, which is running now through July 11 in an art gallery in Brooklyn. The show also features “Ookie Canvas I” (the image at the bottom of this page), which is composed of screenshots from porn video-sharing site RedTube.

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For “Sub/emissions,” Holland asked people to send her photos of the products of orgasms, specifically “anonymous submissions of CUM SHOTS that will be used as part of an artwork. Submissions will be accepted from any and all genders as long as it is fluid emitted as the result of an orgasm.”

Naturally, we had to find out more, so we reached out to the artist. Here’s what she had to say about her…unusual work:

WH: Where did your inspiration to do this series come from?
Holland: The idea for the Ookie Canvases is derived directly from my previous work “Visual Orgasms”…a series of GIFs that uses the visual language of censored Hays Code Hollywood to depict sex. [The Hays Code was a series of moral guidelines for major motion pictures released between 1930 and 1968.] This reflects the pressure that Hollywood felt to represent orgasm visually—even under self-imposed rules not to—as well as the cum shot in pornography, which “proves” the veracity of the pleasure in the scene. I knew I wanted to work with actual cum shots directly, but it took me a while to find the right method.

I got the idea [for “Sub/emissions”] because my partner was watching me toil over “Ookie Canvas I,” and he wanted to be part of the piece. I thought if he wanted to contribute, others might, too, and posted a call for submissions on a whim.

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How many people responded to your calls for “cum shots”?
I got about 50 to 60 submissions via e-mail and anonymous Dropbox before I completed the piece. I’m still receiving them.

What were the most unusual things you saw while sorting through the submissions?
The most unique e-mail I received was from a man who sent me a video made for a woman he wanted to have a baby with. And though they did get pregnant, she decided to have an abortion. I also received a photo of a cell phone covered in cum.

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How did you actually create the piece?
Once the cum shots are collected either via screenshot or submission, the ejaculate is masked out from the background. They are then collaged into the canvas, arranged, and colored.

Are you happy with the finished product?
Definitely! The actual canvases have beautifully saturated colors and a glossy surface.

Norman Rockwell may not be, but it’s definitely interesting.

Learn more about Technophilia.