Margaret Hemming Olsen
MARGARET OLSEN HEMMING {[email protected]} is the former editor in chief of Exponent II and the coauthor of The Book of Mormon for the Least of These. She sits on the advisory board for the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts and is currently curating an exhibit on art about Heavenly Mother for the Center Gallery in New York City. She lives in North Carolina with her spouse, three children, and a large vegetable garden.
Articles
“They Have Received Many Wounds”:Applying a Trauma-Informed Lens to the Book of Mormon
Dialogue 57.2 (Summer 2024): 5–40
This article will explain what trauma is and how to be trauma informed, describe a few examples from the Book of Mormon in which a sensitivity to trauma could reveal greater insights from the text, and argue for the importance of using a trauma hermeneutic. We conclude with an application of a trauma hermeneutic in religious settings and an argument for the importance of being aware of how scriptural trauma may interact with the potential trauma of readers.
The Book of Mormon Art Catalog: An Interview with Director Jennifer Champoux
MOH: Please introduce the project and tell us a bit about how it works. JC: Thank you, I’m so excited to share this great new resource! The Book of Mormon Art Catalog is a comprehensive…
Read moreAbstraction in Latter-day Saint Art: An Interview with Chase Westfall
MOH: In official LDS Church materials, from magazines to manuals to temple walls, there’s a lack of abstract art, in favor of highly representational, literal art. What is the role of abstraction in religious art,…
Read moreFirst Place: Times and Seasons
Listen to the Out Loud Interview about this article here. They came to us just before spring arrived, at the same time I began putting seeds into the ground in my garden. Lettuce, spinach, arugula.…
Read moreThe Divine Feminine in Mormon Art
For the first century of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, members generally did not condone artistic renderings of deity, including those of Christ.[1] It was not until the mid-twentieth century that Mormon…
Read moreMormon Women Claiming Power
Read moreWrestling with the Racism of the Book of Mormon
Dialogue 52.3 (Fall 2019): 209–217
A sermon wrestling with the curse of blackness in the Book of Mormon.