by Brittany Long Olsen
Growing up, I craved more stories of women in the scriptures. When I entered Young Women’s, it broke my heart to see how few women were mentioned in the Book of Mormon, a book I treasured as central to my faith. How was I supposed to grow closer to God reading the scriptures with a bunch of male soldiers as my role models?
The stories of women in the Book of Mormon provide such a sweet contrast to the many, many stories about brash men tearing society apart by war. These women are strong in their faith, fiercely loyal to their families, and humble in leading good lives. Over the years, they have provided inspiration without me even knowing some of their names. I admire them for their strength, for being powerful voices and examples of faith in a book that all but pushes them to the background.
Two years ago, I wanted to depict these women in art, and what began as a doodle in church became a series that allowed me to ponder their lives and stories more deeply. This year, I’ve been thinking a lot about them again. How did they stay strong in a culture that may have marginalized them? How did they endure such hardship without losing faith?
I hope other women—and men—can be as inspired by their precious few stories as I have been.
Brittany Long Olsen is a cartoonist, illustrator, and mom of a spunky little dog named Jetpack.
7 Responses
Great! I love raising the optic profile on these scripture heroines. But where’s Isabel? 😉
Are you familiar with the Women in the Scriptures blog: http://www.womeninthescriptures.com/p/book-of-mormon-women.html and the book: https://deseretbook.com/p/girls-who-choose-god-stories-of-strong-women-from-the-book-of-mormon?variant_id=117123-hardcover
Also Book of Mormon Central is seeking more female B of M art if anyone is inclined that direction: https://bookofmormoncentral.org/events/art-contest-2018
What a great way to ponder and put more time into studying these (unfortunately sparse) stories.
Are these illustrations and stories available to purchase? i’d like them for my granddaughter.
Pat, I’m glad you like them! I’m selling 4×6 prints of these illustrations on my Etsy store here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/582222930/women-of-the-book-of-mormon-prints
I’m so, so, so glad to see depictions of scriptural women that don’t make them look Scandinavian. It’s gotten to the point where I can’t stand to look at the pictoral scriptures for kids because it’s so whitewashed I’m worried about the messages it’ll send my kids. Thank you for highlighting spiritual women in authentic ways!
Thank you so much for doing this! It makes me so happy to see women being represented, even if we don’t know their names.
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