a woman's story: lily
‘Duality of the contemporary religious woman. Historically, Christianity purports an ideal of femininity that is linked with sanctity, virginity, meekness, and obedience. This doesn't align with the lived experience of many contemporary Christian woman and sets a pretty impossible/unrealistic standard for women. I'm curious about exploring the female body through the lens of Christianity but portraying the female body as something that isn't inherently sinful. That black and white of me gripping the pomegranate evokes the myth of Persephone, but strikes me as a sort of reclamation of the myth, that she's eating the pomegranate in defiance. Mary Magdalene is another figure who feels relevant to all of this - she was Jesus' confidant and they were incredibly close, but the authors of the Bible said she was a whore.’ - Lillian