I AM: The Journey

On Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2021, I received an email from the Center of Latter-day Saint Arts calling for submissions for a new grant for artists who identified both as Latter-day Saint and as black, indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC). The project was called “I AM” and the ask was “to submit artwork to reflect the difficult to articulate complexities you possess.”   As a Puerto Rican convert to the church this was a call I was excited to answer.

20 artists from all over the world were chosen in March of 2021 to create art from their chosen discipline including paintings, videos, photography, music, and poetry. Plans to display the artwork online soon turned into a live exhibition in Utah at the Conference Center and Deseret Book Flagship in June and July of 2022. The exhibition can still be viewed virtually on the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts website.

In addition to the exhibition, an ambitious live event aptly named “I AM: THE JOURNEY” was presented at the Conference Center Theater, which seats 850 people, on June 18, 2022, filled to capacity. I, alongside many of the grant recipients, and other notable LDS artists, shared our art with the enthusiastic audience.

KSL-TV will be airing a documentary about this unique gathering and presentation on Saturday, October 1st between sessions of the LDS General Conference. It will be an exciting opportunity to get an inside look on these artists, their lives and their art. As a BIPOC artist who had the privilege of sharing my poetry, I invite you all to hear our stories in the documentary. I echo the call from the live event: “Come and see; come and hear; and come and feel.” I hope you will.—Arisael Rivera