The word ‘saint’ is most commonly associated with Catholicism, yet the concept of sainthood extends both before and beyond Christianity. The earliest saints came from folk legends about individuals of great virtue. While people from many different backgrounds were honored as saints, girls were not usual choices.
The girl saints selected for this exhibition fall into two categories: hero or martyr. As such, the two main themes of these girls’ lives depicted in the images are bravery and virginity. The interpretation of these concepts varies greatly as it is also more usual for their deaths to be represented than any great deeds.
For most of the girl saints, the defense of their faith is inextricably bound up in the asserted control of their sexuality; consequently the debasement of their bodies is part of their torture. As far as saint legends go, sexual mutilation does not feature in any of the accounts of male saints.
The brutality of their treatment in some of these images are so graphic that, even to contemporary desensitized eyes, they could amount to religious pornography. But that is for you to decide.
There is also typically a total disregard for their youth. It is the Hollywood equivalent of having 20+ year olds play teenagers. It seems to more tolerable to see a young woman in a tragic or heroic situation, rather than a girl.
Whether their stories are true or apocryphal, the message of self-sacrifice for the pleasure of others or the greater good is ambiguous at best.