Vaginal Davis

Vaginal Davis
Vaginal Davis as "Bricktop" in 2004.
Background information
Also known as	Dr. Vaginal Davis, Vaginal Creme Davis, Mistress Veronika V'intrest, The Walking Installation Piece, Graciela, Miss Bricktops
Origin	Los Angeles, California
Genres	Punk rock, experimental, queercore, performance art
Occupation(s)	musician, zinester, hostess, gossip columnist, author, performance artist, experimental filmmaker
Years active	1980s – present
Labels	Amoeba Records & Filmworks Spectra Sonic Records Mr. Lady Chongo Records Dischord Records
Website	vaginaldavis.com

Vaginal Davis is an American intersex-born, genderqueer performing artist, painter, independent curator, composer, and writer. Born and raised in South Central, Los Angeles, Davis gained notoriety in New York during the 1980s, where she inspired the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn's prevalent drag scene. She currently resides in Berlin, Germany.

Davis has kept her exact birth year, as well as the name she was given at birth, private. Growing up, Davis lived with her mother, originally from Louisiana, and four older sisters. Her father was of Mexican descent, and her grandfather of German descent, Davis claiming his ancestors were of the von Hohenzollern dynasty. Davis' mother was a revolutionary feminist and community activist in the South Central area, and planted food gardens in vacant lots to help feed the homeless, impoverished, and marginalized peoples of the area. As a young child in the Los Angeles public education system, Davis was accepted into a program for gifted students, where she was first exposed to and developed a love of theatre and opera.

Davis' name pays homage to activist Angela Davis, and considers Davis' involvement with the Black Panther Party and activism as a whole to be one of her biggest inspirations, explaining, "They came into the schools, they had guns, and they took over. They were teaching us all these revolutionary songs and chants and what not. At that time, when Angela Davis was the most wanted woman in America, I was just fixated with that image of her. By the late ’70s I had decided I sort of wanted to sexualize her name and become her, more or less. So I started in the late ’70s calling myself Vaginal Davis. I started to perform– or tried to perform– at these gay clubs in Los Angeles, in Hollywood. The people in these clubs, they would look at me and say, ‘Vaginal Davis? Well who are you supposed to be?’ And I said, ‘Well, Angela Davis– it’s a homage to that.’ And they’d say, ‘Well who’s that?’ They didn’t know who Angela Davis was."

Vaginal Davis' band the Afro Sisters released their first seven-inch EP Indigo, Sassafras & Molasses, produced by Geza X with Amoeba Records in 1978. The Afro Sisters opened for the Smiths on their first American tour, as well as the Happy Mondays.