Purity

Client:

none

Year:

2026

30" x 40" Oil and dry pastel on canvas. Purity is a concept that means to be free of sin. It is so often associated with a woman's relationship with intimacy, especially in religious settings. Purity culture is so often framed as a means of protection, as if a woman abstains and covers up that violence will never reach her, but that isn't reality. The perfect victim does not exist. Women should not have to be perfect in order to be safe. I used a watercolor esq style in application by thinning the oil with mineral spirits to show the tears I have cried over rape culture. I used heavy blue presence in the face because the topic is so somber and a strong saturation of pink in the hair as a symbolism of femininity. The religious symbolism in the woman's forehead is a connection to the role religion plays into purity culture, and the fact that Jesus was right in his statement to God that men do not know what they do, because I believe if they did, we were never worth the salvation of Christ.