Ashley Burnett confronts and challenges the ingrained teachings of purity culture by drawing on the artists’ personal experiences, as a cisgender woman, growing up within the Southern Baptist Community. She contemplates the hypocrisy present within the notion of purity, and the split of identity that occurs when attempting to maintain piety while experiencing contradictory feelings. She redefines her history through the use of mermaids, pearls, oysters, and seaweed as allegorical motifs.

 

Burnett received her B.F.A from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, and her M.F.A in Studio Art at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.