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See the works of the 6 Visitors’ Choice Award winners from the 12th International Art Competition

The six — including one video entry — were among the 148 pieces on display since June 2022 at the Church History Museum

With the Church History Museum’s 12th International Art Competition exhibit winding down after more than eight months, six of the displayed works have been announced as winners of the Visitors’ Choice Awards.

The winning entries were announced Friday, Feb. 24, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

The six — which include one video entry — were among the 148 pieces that have been on display at the museum since June 9, 2022. The Church History Museum exhibit closes on March 4 but will still be available digitally.

The competition’s theme was “All Are Alike Unto God,” from 2 Nephi 2:33 in the Book of Mormon.

The competition received pieces of art in various sizes and formats from more than 850 artists in some two dozen countries worldwide.

Winners of the competition’s Purchase Awards and Merit Awards were announced June 9, 2022, at a presentation in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square.

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The Visitors’ Choice Award winners are:

• Amy Bunnell Jones, ‘Encircled in the Arms of His Love’

With arms stretched wide, the Savior seeks to connect His great creations within His love. As humanity remembers that they are God’s children, they feel an obligation to listen to and understand the perspective of others, Jones said.

“Encircled in the Arms of His Love” by Amy Bunnell Jones is one of six Visitors’ Choice Award winners in the 12th International Art Competition.  | The Church of Jesus Christ or Latter-day Saints

“We are all connected and, therefore, need to love each other deeply, purely, and without reservation, just as God loves us,” Jones added.

• Esther Hi’ilani Candari, ‘As a Loving Parent’

A parental hand guides a young child toward the love of God, symbolized by the white fruit of the tree of life. Inspired by Lehi’s desire in 1 Nephi 8 to share the love of God with his family, Candari said she selected models who she felt embodied this loving concern, with her neighbor Tara and her love for her nephew — pictured in the work — eager to share friendship as being examples of Christlike charity.

Esther Hi’ilani Candari’s “As a Loving Parent” — an entry in the 12th International Art Competition — shows a parental hand guiding a young child toward the love of God, symbolized by the white fruit of the tree of life. | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

“I feel inspired by this parental instinct to guide one’s child to the good, true, and enlightening things in this life and the next,” Candari said.

• Ester Kawai, ‘Batchan (Grandma)’

This is the one film entry — with subtitles provided in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish — among the six award winners. (Click here to watch the video.)

‘Batchan (Grandma)’ by Ester Kawai — an animated short film created as a homage and farewell letter to her grandmother — is one of six Visitors’ Choice Award winners in the 12th International Art Competition. | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

“This animated short film is an homage and a farewell letter to my grandmother,” said Kawai, who in the video ponders the sometimes incomplete ways God’s children touch each other in this life and the eternal promise offered in the temple that family relationships can continue forever.

• Kelsy Lightweave, ‘Common Thread’

This entry depicts many hands — showing differences in age, race, and culture — reaching for the iron rod described by Book of Mormon prophet Lehi from his dream (1 Nephi 8:19). The hands represent those who hold their quest toward the tree of life in common — united as they enter the path that leads them to eternal life.

“Common Thread” by Kelsy Lightweave — showing different hands reaching for the iron rod described in the Book of Mormon — is one of six Visitors’ Choice Award winners in the 12th International Art Competition. | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

“This gift, or common thread, binds us together in love and unity, marching toward the same goal and life-giving light,” Lightweave said.

• Michelle Franzoni Thorley, ‘Making Space for Us’

In Thorley’s work, Christ emerges from a brilliant floral arch and is surrounded by blooming cacti in a serene desert landscape.

“Making Space for Us” by Michelle Franzoni Thorley — showing Christ emerging from a brilliant floral arch and surrounded by blooming cacti — — is one of six Visitors’ Choice Award winners in the 12th International Art Competition.  | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

“This is how I see Jesus,” Thorley wrote, adding that she believes the Savior to be as eager to come to her as she is to Him. “He is in the hot pink bougainvillea of Mexico. His robes are the color of the earth. His skin is the color of the earth. His feet are the color of the earth. … He will make a space for me, even in the desert of my life, and the cactus will bloom and the butterflies will be there to encourage me to continue to become the best version of myself.”

• Shelby Stroud, ‘I Remember Those Who Are on the Isles of the Sea’

Stround’s work is based on the 2 Nephi 29:7 scripture, “Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea?”

“I Remember Those Who Are on the Isles of the Sea” by Shelby Stroud — featuring more than 25,000 shells used to make a portrait — is one of six Visitors’ Choice Award winners in the 12th International Art Competition.  | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Having gathered shells from Alabama, Florida and Mexico, Stroud placed over 25,000 to create the portrait. No shell is forgotten and each contributes to the whole, Stround said, adding, “It’s comforting to know that the Lord has not and will not forget us.”

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