November 11-17: Ether 1-5
"Rend That Veil of Unbelief"
Susana Isabel Silva (Argentinian, born 1976)
(left) 344 dïas (from Serie 344 - Viaje Jaredita) (2020)
handcut paper, 65 cm. x 70 cm
(right) Emergiendo (from Serie 344 - Viaje Jaredita) (2020)
handcut paper, 70 cm x 70 cm
Collection of the artist
@suisslo (Instagram)
Susana Isabel Silva is an artist living in Argentina who was trained as a painter. In 2009, she put painting aside and began to develop a technique of openwork cutting of paper. The two works above are from a series of five, “344 Dias” (344 Days), the length of time of the brother of Jared’s journey. About the works, the artist writes:
I read some time ago that the Jaredite journey serves as a magnifying glass of the nature of the soul in front of the world, and I believe that this is in part what made me develop a very particular interest from my childhood in these verses, and that in my artistic experimentation, it has put aside the comfort of the abstraction with which I usually work to try to put this powerful sequence of miraculous events on paper. For that I made his experience my own and translated it as a symbol. I soon understood that by traveling my own journey I can, like them, put my entire existence in the hands of God. He guided them through inhospitable deserts (like Lehi or Moses) and great waters, enlightened them, pushed them in the right direction, rescued them from the depths, storms and monsters.
It moves me to see like a mirror in my temporary struggles with my own monsters or when I have felt emotionally buried, where I could "implore the Lord to have mercy on me, according to the multitude of his tender mercies" (1 Nephi 8:8) or moments where I have sung praises to the Lord, giving "thanks and praise all day long" and in this winding transit that means our earthly experience I recognize that the Lord sustains me "moment after moment" (Mosiah 2:21) to be able to finally conquer the world, with its desolations, its contrasts and ups and downs without losing the vision of the promised land.
In this series of five works, the first work is based on verses 3 and 5 of Ether 6. They are two circles that connect and merge. In the one below, we see the stones used "so that they would not cross the great waters in the dark." And the one above shows the 8 ships, each one in a different place, isolated, in their own experiences, challenges and miracles.
The second work: “Emerging” is based on verse 7 of Ether 6: “when they were buried in the abyss, there was no water to harm them, (…) when the many waters enveloped them, they implored the Lord, and he drew them another once to the surface of the waters.”
I sketched it as an assemblage of geometric figures dialoguing within a large circle, which he was winning over in the process of creating organic forms typical of marine flora. In the background is the ship, just rising, crossing that great inverted triangle right in the middle of the work that symbolizes the power of God. The points that stand out very weakly are to suggest the movement of the ship emerging to the surface.
Discussion Questions
1. Why do you think that Jared asked his brother to pray about the family's situation rather than advocating with the Lord himself? (Ether 1:34, 36) Have you ever asked someone else to pray on your behalf? If so, what about the person who you asked made you choose them?
2. After four years of living on the seashore, the brother of Jared got a three-hour stern talking-to from the Lord for forgetting to pray (Ether 2:14). Why do you think the brother of Jared, having been the voice of the people with the Lord in the past, let his prayers lapse? What can you do to help you to remember to talk to the Lord?
3. What do you learn about how the Lord answers prayers from the way He responded to the brother of Jared's questions about how to get air and light into the barges? (Ether 2:18-25) How might this impact the way you present your problems to the Lord in prayer? What does this teach about the way the Lord trains all of us to be independent thinkers and leaders?
For Children & Youth
1. The brother of Jared prayed to the Lord asking for a blessing for his family and the Lord granted his request (Ether 1:34-35). Then the brother of Jared asked the Lord in prayer for the same blessing for his friends and their families, and the Lord granted this request, too (Ether 1:36-37). What blessings do you pray about for your family and for your friends?
2. When the brother of Jared asked the Lord about the need for air in the eight barges that they built, the Lord told him exactly how to solve the problem (Ether 2:20-21). When the brother of Jared asked the Lord about the need for light in the barges, the Lord asked the brother of Jared to come up with a solution, and then the Lord helped him to make the solution work (Ether 2: 25). Why do you think that the Lord answers prayers in different ways?
3. When the Lord touched the 16 stones that the brother of Jared brought, he touched them "one by one with His finger" (Ether 3:6). Why do you think Jesus touched each stone separately?
