ESTHER HI'ILANI CANDARI
Global Art for a Global Church
We need religious art resources that reflect our communities and our theology.
What I am going to do about it.
I was raised in a family full of boy scouts and immigrants and I learned from a young age that you should always leave things better than you found them and that solutions to problems were out there if you were willing to reach for them.
A problem I have noticed and have worked to educate others about for years is the dearth of racially, culturally, and aesthetically diverse and inclusive religious art in Latter-day Saint communities. One of the challenges to addressing this problem that I have both personally encountered and has been brought to me by multiple people is the lack of comprehensive and affordable resources that provide individuals with images they can use in their family and classroom settings. The solution to this issue is to create such a resource, but that is easier said than done. This year a few factors have finally aligned so that I can tackle that project myself.
So that's what I am doing! With the invaluable support of By Common Consent Press, I will be publishing an art companion to the 2024 Book of Mormon Come Follow Me curriculum. The companion will be a full color spiral bound book containing a broad array of images from a diverse group of artists. These images will be curated to provide inclusive images for teaching the beautiful and eternally meaningful concepts and stories found in the Book of Mormon. Everything from the Tree of Life, to Abish and the Queen, to the sons of Helaman. The volume will be available for purchase in December 2023.
The long term goal will be to publish a new volume of images for each of the CFM courses of study, with potential for multiple editions of each volume. While BCC and I have the resources to publish a basic version of this book, I want it to be so much more than something that meets the bare minimum and that is where you, any one of you, can make a difference. Continue reading to find out how.
submit your work for consideration!
If you are an artist
What you can do about it.
The purpose of this book is to provide a platform for all the artists out there who are doing the work of creating holy imagery that captures the breadth and diversity of our Heavenly Parents' children and their cultures. I can't do this without the support of my fellow artists. For this volume I am looking for images that fit the following criteria:
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Depict a scene from or doctrinal concept (i.e. faith, repentance, baptism etc.) that is relevant to the Book of Mormon
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Are aesthetically and/or racially and culturally diverse and inclusive
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Are appropriate for elementary age audiences (sorry, probably no graphic bloody dismembered arms)
Work in any medium or style from artists of all ages and backgrounds is welcome. Video, performance, and installation work may be hard to adequately present in this format but artists are still welcome to submit stills of such work.
For each work that is selected for inclusion, the artist will be compensated. See submission form for more details on compensation.
Submissions will be open January 9th, through October 1, 2023.
Submissions made before July 15th will be given priority. Work does not need to be complete to be initially submitted for consideration but final images must be submitted by October 1st.
Final selections will be announced by October 2, 2023.
If you are a supporter
pre-order and donate to make this even bigger and better
What you can do about it.
Between the capital I am fronting and the contributions of BCC, a non-profit press, we have the funds to create a good but minimal version of this volume. With your support we could create something so much more! To make supporting this project as accessible as possible, I have created multiple tiers and options in a kick-starter style format.
Browse the gallery below for options, or reach out to me directly if you would like to donate via check.
Number of images added
due to fundraising
25
Number of languages added
due to fundraising
