Cactus Blog 

Feminist Cactus

Posted August 25, 2010 7:38 am & filed under News.

A few months ago I blogged about some Shoe Cactus, women’s shoes that had been reprurposed as cactus planters.

Broadsheet at Salon has finally gotten ahold of one and it turns out it’s an art piece by Rachel Mahlke,

…to “show that there is danger and pain behind plastic representations of beauty” and to comment on American conceptions of femininity — but these creations are open to all sorts of feminist perspectives. Maybe you see a powerful juxtaposition of natural beauty with unnatural beauty standards, or a quirky fusion of crafty, D.I.Y. feminism with sex worker activism.

…Some will thrill at the idea of a stripper shoe bearing “baby aloe plants with serrated ‘teeth’ along their fleshy green leaves.” (Vagina dentata, anyone?!) Others — like those friends of mine with copies of “Carmen Electra’s Aerobic Striptease Collection” — will identify more with the sweet and feminine look of this platform planted with a pastel succulent and an airy bed of light-green moss.

Cactus!