The Ecclesiastical Femme

Religious institutions have a significant impact on gendered relations in contemporary America. The nature of purity culture places emphasis on women’s sexual cleanliness and perfection. The impact that this cultural perspective has on the United States’ political and social policies are extreme and non-secular. Religious trauma encompasses a majority of women’s cultural experience in the United States. Their individual worth has become reliant on their sexual morality whether personally religious or not. In the process of approaching religion from a feminist perspective, I am interested in the influence that its practice has on women. I also enjoy pushing the boundaries of Christian ideology by celebrating and respecting all women associated with religion and their agency. Through interdisciplinary painting and drawing, I create environmental images, such as interior decoration and church architecture, that speak to personal and institutional narrative. I reflect upon these environments that have supported the pressure for women to maintain unrealistic standards. Utilizing motifs and materials such as veils and calla lilies, I recall the vulnerability that women have become prey to. My paintings call upon religious iconography in order to question the male gaze and subvert our expectations of the space sacred imagery occupies. We often do not give second thought to how women are portrayed as sheepish and reserved in religious scenes. Images of mass-produced Christian objects acting as propaganda function as a reminiscence of personal memory and provide an example of real life symbols of unrealistic perfection. I make marks intuitively so that their quality can have pure connection to my personal experience. This way of painting allows for me to manipulate institutional spirituality with personal spirituality. Art to me is a mode of understanding, a way to relate to others in the world, and an attempt to understand the inner workings of myself, as well as the totality of the systems I am a part of. I find comfort and healing in being able to foster safe conversations about difficult concepts such as religion and gender ideology. Purposefully posing questions about the social epidemic of purity culture and its influence on our ideals of women contains the power to change our misogynist perceptions and better the world