Artist: Janiece Murray
Title: Strangers in a Strange Land
Medium: Handmade earth pigment watercolors, gold, white gold, and silver on paper
Size: 16x16 inches
Artist Statement:
Recording scriptural experiences like this one in a visual manner helps me connect to God in a way that words can’t. As I worked on this illustration, I felt like an observer, carefully recording something ancient and sacred. The text in the center is a rough cuneiform translation of Ether 6:4: “. . . they got aboard of their vessels or barges, and set forth into the sea, commending themselves unto the Lord their God.”
I originally sketched this on my mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I think it was a visual prayer of gratitude to God for what He had done to get me there, and a plea for help to finish my mission.
Since then, I’ve thought a lot about the storms of life that blow us to our promised land. I had the chance to revisit this illustration in 2023, after moving to Provo for school. It was a time of tumultuous storms for me. At times I missed calm beaches, but there was always a bit of light, or a small hole of air for me to breathe through. Because of what I went through, I have now found a promised land.