Purity

During a Purity Ball young girls promise to “live pure lives before God” and to remain virgins until marriage. In return, their fathers sign a commitment promising to protect their daughters’ chastity. Sometimes rings are exchanged as a symbol of their vows. David Magnusson has photographed and interviewed young girls and their fathers who have participated in Purity Balls in Louisiana, Colorado and Arizona.

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Purity

During a Purity Ball young girls promise to “live pure lives before God” and to remain virgins until marriage. In return, their fathers sign a commitment promising to protect their daughters’ chastity. Sometimes rings are exchanged as a symbol of their vows. David Magnusson has photographed and interviewed young girls and their fathers who have participated in Purity Balls in Louisiana, Colorado and Arizona.

"When I first heard about the Purity Balls I imagined angry American fathers terrified of anything that could hurt their daughters or their families honor. But as I learnt more, I understood that the fathers, like all parents, simply wanted to protect the ones that they love – in the best way they knew how. It was also often the girls themselves that had taken the initiative to attend the ceremonies. They had made their decisions out of their own conviction and faith, in many cases with fathers who didn’t know what a Purity Ball was before first being invited by their daughters.

The more I learned, the more I was surprised that I had been so quick to judge people I knew so little about. I was struck by the idea that what set us apart wasn’t anything more than how we had been influenced by the culture we grew up in and the values it had instilled in us.

Coming from Sweden, one of the most secular countries in the world, I wanted to challenge my own prejudices and try to understand this phenomenon that was very strange to me, without presenting any answers or conclusions. To explore how our own experiences affect our reactions to what we encounter, I wanted to photograph portraits so beautiful that the girls and their fathers could be proud of the pictures in the same way as they are proud of their decisions – while someone from a different background might see an entirely different story in the very same photographs.

"Purity" is intended to make us reflect on how we are shaped by our society and how we interact with world through the values we embrace as our own. It’s an exploration of how the message and meaning of a photograph is something very personal and subjective, always changing, depending on the viewer."

The book "Purity" was published by Bokförlaget Max Ström in march 2014, during the exhibition at Fotografiska, The Swedish Museum of Photography, in Stockholm. The project was produced with support from the Swedish Committee of the Arts and was awarded The Scanpix Grant 2011, Portrait Series of the Year Sweden 2012, The Documentary Photography Award 2013, The City of Skövde Culture Grant 2014, and was selected for The Kassel Book Award - Best Books Of The Year, in 2014.

"Purity" has been featured in international media such as TIME Magazine, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, i-D Magazine, The Independent, Der Spiegel, Stern, La Repubblica and BBC.

Laila, Antonio and Maia SaColorado Springs, Colorado

Portraits

Rose & Randall Smoak, Dixie, Louisiana

Hope & Jay Smallwood, Haughton, Louisiana

Laila, Antonio & Maya Sa, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Miranda & Jody Heckert, Yuma, Arizona

Will & Nicole Roosma, Tucson, Arizona

Grace & Gary Kruse, Black Forrest, Colorado

Tom & Calee Cortes, Surprise, Arizona

Pierce & Jasmine Nunley, Grand Cane, Louisiana

Jenna & Jeff Clark, Chandler, Arizona

Jamie & David Clampitt, Shreveport, Louisiana

Installation Views

The exhibition Purity at Fotografiska – The Swedish Museum of Photography in Stockholm, 2014.

In The Light Of The Decisions You Have Made

By Ayperi Karabuda Ecer

In The Light Of The Decisions You Have Made

By Ayperi Karabuda Ecer

Photography inevitably gravitates around time, light and control. Around their presence, around their absence, around combining them at best.

On one hand it aspires to haunt unpredictable, candid moments. On the other hand it is dependent on set agendas managing access and purpose.

Behind each shoot, in all genres, there are control mechanisms linked to the interests of the commissioner and to those of the end viewer.

All organized by someone to make a point about something.

David Magnusson has spent years using his skills in the world of photographic assignments. He has learned his craft covering major stories of our times, documenting what is perceived as “real” while unfolds. He has photographed thousands of people, each time reflecting on what they need to convey. Always focused on bringing back an answer to a burning question.

With his project Purity he steps back from proposing answers and allows himself to formulate visual questioning. He literally offers a frame for the photographed to step into and share control. He sets the format and the mood by offering the location, selected and carefully set up, asking fathers and daughters to pose “in the light of the decisions you have made.”

David Magnusson’s focus is not on the individuals, it is on the relationship. The strength, the tenderness, the domination, and all the contradictions springing from adult men seeking promises which will guide young girls’ intimate lives and their infinite need for love and protection.

Each shoot takes up to an hour. That is no longer a “moment”; it is a long time to maintain intensity. Yet some of the fathers and daughters spend the hour physically clinging to each other.

The light is what makes this project visually coherent. All photographs are organized to be shot an hour and a half before dawn. Yes, it is beautiful. Many of the fathers refer to light in their interviews. One of them quotes Psalm 40: “I was plucked from a miry pit and sat into a marvellous light”, another thinks that “as Christians we’re supposed to be the light in the world.”

David Magnusson’s lighting appeals to those who pose but its airy subtlety also adds a surreal tone which contrasts with the solid convictions of the photographed. The setting seems to be from a fairy tale but we are confused by the cast.

David Magnusson knows that what is missing in a frame is as important as what is present. As fathers and daughters intensely try to embody the presence of God, one wonders what fears and hopes lie behind their mutual determination? Who are the men that inspire such fright and such need for protection? What past scars do the fathers want to redeem? Will these girls ever be able to love anyone more than their own progenitor? How much do our own demons suggest interpretations?

Purity is a personal visual project that offers a stage for intense emotions and questions.

As with all images, these carry different meanings depending on where and by whom they will be viewed. Ideally they need to be accompanied by the interviews and a balanced introduction.

But as with so many other images they will also be encountered divorced from initial purpose and control in an unpredictable journey.

Purity is a project about contradictions, love and domination, beauty and fear, relying on the very singular complexities of the photographic process.

Ayperi Karabuda Ecer is a documentary photography editor and strategist, former global vice president of pictures at Reuters, editor-in-chief at Magnum Photos Paris, and bureau chief at SIPA New York.

The Book

David Magnussons compelling portraits offer a nuanced view on the Purity Ball phenomenon in America. During a Purity Ball young girls promise to live pure lives before God, and to remain virgins until marriage. In return their fathers sign a commitment promising to protect their daughters chastity. Sometimes rings are exchanged as a symbol of their vows. After reading about the Purity Ball phenomenon, Magnusson became increasingly captivated by the growing popularity of these homegrown rituals. Equipped with a large-format camera, he portrayed fathers and daughters who participated in Purity Ball ceremonies from 2010 to 2011 in Louisiana, Texas, Colorado and Arizona. Magnusson took the pictures at sites near their homes; in the suits and ball gowns they wore at the ceremony. "I wanted to create portraits that were beautiful; images that the girls and their fathers would like to see hanging on their walls at home, while someone from another cultural background might experience the very same portraits in an entirely different way." For Magnusson, the project Purity is about investigating how the culture that surrounds us influences our values. By raising questions, rather than providing answers, Magnusson challenges us to map our principles as well as judgments.

Published by Bokförlaget Max Ström in 2014
Hardcover, 33.6 x 27.7 x 1.3 cm, ISBN 978-9171262929
Available for international orders at Amazon UK.