VIRGIN FANTASIES

Mythology and religion have been vital forces in defining social and gender norms. So successful that they are still being used in popular media and advertising to manipulate and control how and what we think about other people and self-monitor our own behaviours. Virgin fantasies explores my personal discomfort with the pressures of religious dogma concerning women’s roles in society.

Eternal purity, obedience, procreation and maternity as the only qualities that give women worth and place have haunted and suffocated women’s expressions of self, sexuality and intellect in this world. Yet, we continue to worship this ideal no matter the cost, or so it seems.

In this installation, I invite the viewer to enter the shrine of the social prison and witness the creation of beauty and purity. This work is part of a larger project titled “Cultivated Beast” which questions restrictive feminine roles and dogmatic beauty more broadly.