Save Only One

Technique & Style

Digital illustration, Figurative

Figures

Indistinguishable

Symbols

hand, shadow

Notes

Artist statement: "Alma 23 tells of Aaron and his brethren’s heroic missionary efforts to bring truth to a lost people. While it lists many cities of success, it states that when it came to the Amalekites they were not converted, “save only one.” Who was the one brave enough to stand alone? Wading through darkness and confusion, who fought to accept the light? To embody the “one” I chose a woman. I think of the woman at the well, the woman with the issue of blood, the woman at the entrance of the Savior’s empty tomb, all women who shouldered great faith. It felt inspired that the “one” should be a woman. She’s seen wading through a hazy darkness of lines and obstacles, but with a closer look these objects morph into a bustling crowd expressed with distaste and remorse, the ones who walked away. The woman, determined, pushes through the crowd, fighting to touch the light. She feels the warmth, it feels like home, and in that moment, she whispers, “I believe.” I think of how lonely it would be to be her. Would she become a social outcast, the town spinster? Would she lose her place, her inheritance, her social status? After this moment her world must have completely changed, but it didn’t matter, because she had changed. As Elder Holland reminds us, “after an encounter with the living Son of the living God, nothing is ever again to be as it was before.” Staring at her I now ask myself; would I have the courage to be the “one?” What would I risk to touch the light? What would you risk? In a world full of chaos and confusion will we be brave enough to fight the crowd and cry out, “I believe?”

Commissioned Status

Submitted to the 2024 BYU Book of Mormon Art Contest.

Church Affiliation of the Artist

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints