The “Seven Deadly Sins”—pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth—help define Christian morality and give shape to secular artworks depicting transgression. Capital Vice highlights a variety of artforms in the Fitchburg Art Museum’s permanent collection (including street photography, silverware, and weaponry) to question how outdated notions of archetypal sin fit within a modern sensibility. 

Outside its purely religious purpose, the concept of immorality works to negatively reinforce certain social and political stigmas. Capital Vice features artists who represent experiences deemed “sinful” to explore histories that are demonized or dismissed in contemporary politics. Themes of war and protest, elitism and excess, creativity and condemnation bubble beneath the moralistic tones that seek to justify cultural judgements of right and “Other.” By studying identities, communities, or events popularly viewed as transgressive, these artworks point to areas where the dominant narrative of progress and decency is fraught.