New art show in Provo to feature diverse portraits of Christ

PROVO — Many religious historians agree Jesus Christ most likely had brown skin, but many popular or iconic portraits of Christ have one thing in common: light skin, blue eyes and European features. A new art gallery show in Provo is hoping to broaden how people picture Christ.

The "Mosaic of Christ" show opens Friday, featuring diverse depictions of Jesus Christ from all over the world, with an emphasis on historical accuracy and cultural expression. The show will run at Writ and Vision in downtown Provo from Feb. 2-24, with an opening reception from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. the first night and a panel discussion Feb. 15 at 7 p.m.

The upper portion of the gallery show will include an educational exhibit, with explanations about what Christ most likely would have looked like, why representation matters and how diversity functions in art. There will also be a coloring station for children and an opportunity to leave comments and impressions about the show.

The show was created through Meetinghouse Mosaic, a faith-promoting nationwide nonprofit run by a diverse group of Latter-day Saint women dedicated to helping artwork in church meetinghouses reflect the diversity of the church's worldwide membership and its inclusive teachings.

The organization also hopes to be a bridge between artists of color and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, connecting artists with resources to develop their skills and amplify their work by giving them a platform to share their art.

The members of the nonprofit came up with the idea to do an art show focused on depictions of Christ about a year ago.

Although Christ was a Palestinian Jew who likely had brown skin, the paintings were created in the 1500s in Italy, where antisemitism was prevalent, so artists purposefully painted him without any Jewish characteristics, Anne Pimentel, president of Meetinghouse Mosaic, said. During colonial times, colonizers specifically commissioned art with a white Christ so people being colonized would associate them with divinity.

"We've had one style for centuries of Northern European, white Christ, and we have learned that is not enough. It's not inclusive to only hold up one image of Christ," Pimentel said. Along with the traditional images of Christ, there should be "the option for everyone to see themselves in divinity."

"To see Christ in a more historically accurate depiction allows for people who are not white to see him in a more personal, relatable way to them," said Tyrone Whitehorse, a local artist featured in the show. "Artists and the art they create, more often than not, create their art from their viewpoint, the way they see the world.

"To see the diverse representations of Christ can serve to open our eyes in all the ways that he can affect the lives of all who seek him."

Meetinghouse Mosaic worked with Laura Howe, the art curator for the Church History Museum, and Esther Hi'ilani Candari, artist and program manager for the Writ and Vision gallery, to put together a list of artists and a call for submissions for the show.

The jurors who selected the pieces were all artists of color. "We had a goal of not having any white depictions of Christ in the show, and we wanted to center artists of color who have the right to decide what presents as white to them," Pimentel explained.

"We had a great turnout," Pimentel added. "We're hoping that if this is successful, we'll do this show again in two or three years."

People often display nativities from all over the world at Christmastime. Markets in almost every part of the globe exhibit figurines of baby Jesus, often handcrafted in local cultural styles and with physical characteristics of the local people. Meetinghouse Mosaic wanted to capture that diverse, global representation of Christ when they put out the call for submissions. It asked for historically accurate or culturally expressive depictions of Christ.

"We (members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) are a worldwide church. Christ is the savior of the world. Everybody should be able to relate to him in some way and affirm their divinity in the art that we see," Pimentel explained. "Everybody should be affirmed in who they are and whose they are."

Eternity Stovall, one of the artists whose work is featured in the show, based her piece, "Joy in the Storm," on a picture of her African-American father because she wanted to capture the familiar but sacred look of love in her own mixed-race family.

"I want to see Christ as a part of my family, and not everyone's family looks the way Christ is typically depicted," the BYU fine arts student said.

The oil painting on a wood panel shows a Black Christ, beaming, with rain pouring all around him. Stovall said the piece is the third in a series of portraits of Christ based on characteristics found in the scriptures: specifically mercy, faith and joy.

She felt the storm shows the dissonance of joy — light in the darkness.

"Miracles happen when Christ is in the storm. He's wet, in the rain, in that situation with you," Stovall explained. "I love being in the rain. I've had many wonderful experiences in the rain."

She said her father taught her about choosing to live a life of joy as a way of fighting against things designed to bring her down, including racism.

"A lot of the Black people I know that have a lot of joy are worshippers of God, and it's because they choose to look to Christ and look to God and not let it weigh them down," she said. "Black men, specifically, aren't depicted as having that joy — but my father lives a life full of joy, and I wanted to capture that."

Overall, Stovall and Pimentel both hope the show will open people's hearts, allow them to see beauty in diversity and show that Christ extends his love to everybody.

"I believe our heavenly parents created diversity for a reason. If they wanted us all to look the same, then they would have made it that way. Instead, they created a great breadth of diversity in nature and everything around us and also in people," Pimentel said. "Art is one of the best ways to send that message."

For Whitehorse, the art show offered an opportunity to use his culture to add meaning and depth in his portrait of Christ.

Whitehorse is originally from Page, Arizona, and grew up on the Navajo Nation. He comes from a long line of Indigenous artists and artisans.

"My grandmothers were weavers and my father is an artist, as well. I spent many evenings as a child watching my dad draw or paint at the kitchen table and fell in love with his creations and the process of making a blank page beautiful," he said. "The fruits of my father's painting at that table as I watched as a kid have sprouted in me, and I am happy to keep the artistic spark alive."

When he saw the call for submission for the "Mosaic of Christ" art show, he was thrilled to create something meaningful for the show from the viewpoint of his Native American culture.

In his piece "The Savior to All Nations," Christ is wearing a Navajo chief's blanket to indicate his authority and standing.

It also features a medicine wheel, "a symbol used by many North American Native American tribes that indicate the complete nature of the people of the Earth — that we are all one family and should treat each other as such," Whitehorse explained.

Prints of his piece will be available at Deseret Book this coming spring.

"My hope is that when people see it, they can see the compassion in Jesus' eyes — the love he has for all people, especially for my Native American brothers and sisters," he said.

"I hope it elicits thoughts in the viewer to diversify the way they see Jesus. I especially hope that Native people see not only the love that Christ has for them, but that we are not forgotten, that we are not outsiders, but that he remembers us and as we remember him. His promises made to our people are still in effect today," Whitehorse said.

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