The Kunda Project
Interview with a Revolutionary Woman: The Kunda Project
By Blending Staff
Indira Rodriguez was born in Venezuela, and as young girl began illustrating her travels throughout South America. She shares that the landscapes, the encounters, the lessons, and most of all, the Women that she met along her path were what first inspired her to live a life dedicated to finding freedom and happiness for all Women. In 2015, during a master degree program in Institutional Advertisement, Multimedia Communications, and Event Planning at UNIFI (Università degli Studi di Firenze), one of Indira’s course projects involved a group project on female empowerment for Blending Magazine. After completing her studies at UNIFI, Indira started a revolutionary project titled “Kunda La Vagina.”
This project was born out of Indira’s need to share her own story: a story of self-discovery and internal struggles to find her own natural femininity. Passionate about these topics and about the importance of Women as the givers of life, Indira is determined to give value to the meaning of being a Woman. The project consists of weekly newsletters, weekly informative videos, female empowerment sessions and workshops, and free monthly meditations. This year in Florence on International Women’s Day (8 March), the first exhibit Piena di Grazia (Full of Grace) debuted in collaboration with the ARCI association and Casa Del Popolo of Settignano.
This December, the project’s first book Mandalenado En Mi Cuerpo will be published in Spanish, and subsequently in Italian.
What is the project “Kunda La Vagina” about?
IR: The project is dedicated to creating spaces for Women. We want the word “Vagina” and everything that it stands for to be natural, without a sense of taboo or discrimination attached to it. By respecting and loving every Woman, we’d like to give back to each her place in this world.
“She was born a Woman so she could teach and love, destined to become a teacher of life and of love.” – La Profezia della curandera, H.H. Mamani.
“Kunda la Vagina” is a sacred space for courageous women who seek change – the kind of change that begins within ourselves. We want this world to be full of Women whose well-being, happiness and personal growth are guaranteed to them.
Kunda is the Avatar of the project. She’s like the doll that every Woman identifies with, the doll that each of us carry within, the one that understands, speaks to us, and teaches us. Kunda represents the internal spirit of Women; our voice and our consciousness.
There are other characters along for the journey with Kunda:
Penelopelos is Kunda’s pet spider. She doesn’t have the most positive of personalities, but she causes us to reflect on things, to question things. Penelopelos invites us to seek change, to break from the paradigm and get to know ourselves better.
Serena Vulva is Kunda’s most loyal friend. She represents the alliances, the friendships and the sisterhood between Women. She’s the first Woman ally that Kunda has.
David is the male representation in the project. He supports Kunda, he’s a great friend and a great love. In this project, there is also a space for men, because in order to change the world, men and women have to do the work together.
Why is she called Kunda?
IR: When feminists began to wear buttons and t-shirts with slogans like ‘C**T POWER’ which proclaimed and reclaimed the power of the vagina, I saw the fight for the restoration of an antiquated power. “After all, the Indo-European word cunt was derived from the goddess Kunda or Cunti, and shares the same root as kin and country.” (from Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues)
The name “Kunda” reminds us how a Woman, in her entirety, has been devalued in a patriarchal society, and reminds us that it is our job to rediscover that power, giving it back to every Woman and every girl.
Who is involved in this project?
IR: The project is supported by diverse Women across the globe, starting with Marjorie Bratt in the United States, Gabriela Angrisano in Spain, Alexis Briz and Aida Cavallo in Italy, Carolina Franco Ricart and Daniela Mendez in Chile, and myself (project founder) in Colombia, and we are also supported by a great team of men, such as David Angulo in Colombia.
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