Coming of Christ
Rose Coleena Wallace Nungari (1974– )
- Medium
Australia
2008
Acrylic on canvas
59.625 × 36.375 in.
Church History Museum Collection- Purchase Award
- Purchase Award
"I live in the only Latter-day Saint Aboriginal community in Australia, a rural village called Angkula. Since my baptism, missionaries have been reading the Book of Mormon to me. It has transformed my life and art. My artwork is my testimony of the greatest things of God—the hope of eternal life through the Atonement. The painting narrates Christ’s visit to America. He is the central figure, healing the throngs of diverse people. In each corner of the painting there is a “coolamon,” a wooden dish, containing a sprig of a medicinal plant, illustrating His healing. In Aboriginal art, dots signify the “dreamtime,” a mythological realm in ancient spiritual beliefs. However, in this context, they show that Christ’s coming is being adopted into Aboriginal culture, significant because the Aboriginal race is just beginning to accept the restored gospel."