Mother In The Desert
About this series:
As a child, I was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known more widely as the Mormon church. One of the Church’s core (yet infrequently mentioned) beliefs, is that God the Father has a female counterpart, referred to commonly as “Heavenly Mother”. This doctrine has been part of the church nearly since its inception, and yet it’s rarely spoken of. Although the doctrine of a divine Feminine is beloved by many, it has rarely if ever been shown in Mormon religious art, so I decided to create an entire series where I could do just that.
In this body of work I poured all my questions, thoughts and insights into digital illustrations and two acrylic paintings. The Paintings were used as illustrations in the books “A Girl’s Guide To Heavenly Mother” and the following companion book “A Boy’s Guide To Heavenly Mother” . Following the book’s release both paintings hung in an art show for all the art from the books held at Writ and Vision in Provo UT. Digital Illustrations from this series were also featured in a few magazines and cited a few times an academic paper on the Divine Feminine in Mormon art by Margaret Olsen Hemming.
This body of work was created over the course of approximately 2 years (2018-2020). In it I explored what a “perfected” female being could be like, and examined how the very act of imagining divinity in female form changes how we feel about ourselves as women. Always at the core of my work is a desire to showcase as many types of women as possible as holy and worthy of representation in religious art.
The inspiration for this series started in early 2018. I listened to Margaret Barker speaking about Revelations 12, and read that chapter myself. If you are interested, here is the video that inspired me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6OTD7plobA
To summarize the imagery I found compelling in revelations 12: “there was a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars” The woman goes into labor, and the great dragon drags one third of the stars from the sky. She gives birth to a son, who was given a throne from God. The dragon goes to war with Her son, and the dragon is cast down to earth. He tries to persecute the woman, but she uses eagles wings to flee and hide in the desert. The earth its self protects her from the dragon, and so in revenge he turns his anger onto all of her children.
I absolutely LOVED all of the imagery in this story. I was intrigued by how the desert looks like such a barren place at first, so devoid of live and color, but as you sit quietly and patiently you will see all the plants and animals you missed at first glance. To me the divine feminine is much the same. Lots of people never feel empowered to engage with this theology in any meaningful way. At first it might look like a barren wasteland with nothing worthwhile to cultivate. However I found the more I engaged with these ideas, the more substance and beauty I found. Creating this body of work was a solace to me during a difficult and emotionally turbulent time in my life, and I hope it can be the same for those who choose to engage with my work.