Episode 34: How the American Pie is Changing Body Image: Mikel Ibarra

Mikel Ibarra woke up one morning with an idea that she couldn’t ignore. As an artist, when ideas come, especially those that are a bit unusual, you pay attention – and that is what Mikel did. Mikel, a public school art teacher turned baker, decided to go to her kitchen and make pies to explore the way vulvas look. Yes, Mikel makes vulva pies. In this episode, Kara and Mikel explore the way Mikel’s art is educating vulva owners around how varied they look and to remove the shame many carry around their appearance.  Mikel Ibarra (she/ her/ hers) is an artist and baker living in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Her current work explores the paths between empowerment, acceptance, sexuality, and objectification using hand-sculpted desserts as her media of choice.  Her life has followed a curving path from artist to wife and mother to public school art teacher to baker and finally back to artist. Interestingly, it was the slow process of spending hours in the kitchen, seeking perfection in baking, that awakened the inspiration to tackle her feelings about the proverbial woman’s place through visual art. She found pie was the perfect symbol to explore all the complexities, beginning with the vulva being a source of pleasure and portal of life while also being a source of shame and fear. Like pie, it’s often treated as a consumable commodity.  Her work celebrates the beauty of the body and showcases the diversity of normal bodies. See it at www.piesinthewindow.com or on Instagram @piesinthewindow.