Laura James grew up in a tight-knit Caribbean neighborhood in New York City, where her family attended a local Brethren church. The denomination, which traces its roots to 18th-century Germany, practiced an austere form of worship: bare walls, a piano, unadorned window frames. The only pop of color came from children’s Bibles, where Jesus was depicted with yellow hair and Black people looked gray, typically portrayed as servants.

James, an artist and illustrator of Antiguan heritage, felt disconnected from these images and eventually, the faith itself. “It wasn’t about me,” she says. “This did not seem like anything I wanted to do with.”

Later, in her neighborhood bookstore, she stumbled on a book of Ethiopian Magic Scrolls. The images of Black angels on the cover captivated her. She began teaching herself to draw in the Ethiopian Christian style, attracted to its spiritual power and Black imagery.

Over more than 30 years, she’s developed a distinctive style that blends the vivid colors of Caribbean art with the nonrealistic, folk-inspired forms of Ethiopian Christian tradition. Her work resonated with the broader Christian community, and she was asked to illustrate the Book of the Gospels for the Roman Catholic Church.

“I’m happy to show a different perspective on the Biblical characters, because we’re all made in God’s image, so that to me means that we’re all different colors,” she told me.

James’s paintings of Jesus are part of “Expressions of Jesus: Cultural Representations of the Savior of the World,” a newly released collection from Deseret Book that highlights how over 100 artists from different cultures, historical periods, and religious backgrounds have depicted Jesus. Alongside paintings by Danish painters Carl Bloch and Frans Schwartz are early Christian works by unknown Syrian and Greek artists, Renaissance masterpieces, Ukrainian and Russian icons, and contemporary artists from Africa, Ghana, Ethiopia, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, and beyond.

Together, these images highlight a broader shift in American Christian art—away from depicting Jesus solely as European and toward reimagining Him through the traditions, cultures, and lived experiences of believers around the world, while also bringing these diverse representations into worship spaces and religious literature.

“The whole vision of this book is that Christ is for everyone,” says Rose Datoc Dall, the artist who curated the book.

Read the full article in the Deseret News.

Expressions of Jesus

This one-of-a-kind curated collection of artwork showcases images of Jesus Christ from more than 100 diverse artists throughout history and from around the world. No one throughout history has been depicted in art as much as Jesus Christ has. This unique art book features the broadest collection of art from the most diverse collection of Christian artists, bringing together and celebrating the way Jesus Christ has been portrayed throughout history and culture.

Whether Jesus Christ is depicted as Māori, Chinese, Tongan, Swedish, Mexican, Navajo, Cameroonian, or South African, His message is the same. He calls all of us to love one another and come unto Him to find rest and peace. Expressions of Jesus is a reflection of the unparalleled impact of Jesus’s life and teachings on His followers around the world. Available at Deseret Book and deseretbook.com.

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