"virgin pure"

24x36"
oil on canvas
2024

This piece is about the rampant hypersexualization of young girls and the emotional consequences girls face in its wake. The painting exposes the cruel hypocrisy that girls are taught- that they must stay innocent. The world expects them to be an innocent soul, a virgin pure, with no regard for the guilt that these girls feel when they assume that the sexual expectations placed on them are of their own fault. No regard for the horror they feel when they realize they will never be treated like children again.

The hummingbirds with snake heads act as a metaphor for womanhood. The gentle, delicate frame of a hummingbird and how it tries to restrain the savage and ravenous snake represents the rage and pain women feel that they must contain. The symbols of womanhood stifle women, restraining them in tight vines that grow delicate, beautiful, and palatable flowers for them to feast on.