Pure to Pieces

In 2020 I noticed a trend in conversations I was having with friends and artists about sexual abuse and sexual identity and found that many of them attributed the obsession, repression, and shame of these things to the purity culture they grew up in. I was already making art having to do with these topics and decided to start up a podcast to record these conversations, have experts on, and make art with each podcast participant. Pure to Pieces is a two-part project including a podcast and art exhibition thanks to the Kentucky Foundation for Women. In the podcast, I (Morgan McGill) talk with guests about their story of growing up in purity culture and how their perspectives have changed. Each participant contributed a piece of art to my solo exhibition in 2021. These conversations took place in order to heal, connect, and transform our mindsets about our underlying beliefs. I hope this work informs the larger public that there are many people who are still being harmed by purity culture and show the healing place of art in people’s lives.