Welcome to the spring issue of Exponent II! I am writing to you from a warm, early spring day, with sun and birdsong and squirrels in my trees. I am surrounded by evidence that my very short-lived winter (a result of global warming and living in the south) is turning over, that long daylight and green trees are returning to my yard. I am thinking again about renewal.

Exponent II is renewing work for me. I marvel at the beautiful connections that form across these pages, between word and art, between one voice and another. I love watching how individual experiences, feelings, and thoughts weave together to form each issue, reflecting some of the beautiful, collective work of Mormon feminism.

This open-themed issue of the magazine is full of organic connections and recurring themes. “Whose Body is This?” and “Undoing the Ideal: Stitched, Scarred, and Sacred” center women’s bodies, examining autonomy, agency, and the impact of harsh beauty standards. In Ocean Blue Taber’s work, My Body is a Temple, painted body parts are fragmented onto Deseret Industry-thrifted lampshades “as a way to take ownership of the vessel that gives me life.” Our featured artist, Anna Ream, discusses gendered expectations in her photograph series, Mormon BSAds. Here the BS stands for “benevolent sexism, the subtle, often well-intentioned ways patriarchal systems constrain women under the guise of protection and reverence.” Ream creates her own versions of the Mormonads that began in the 1970s. She explains, “Co-opting this visual language feels like standing up, naming it openly, and stripping it of its power.”

In “Rumpspringa,” “Dear Mormon Parents,” and “Jane Mormons,” three writers unpick some of the complexities of carving out a life off the “straight and narrow;” they find peace, pain, and honesty, living in the “messy middle” and the margins of orthodox Mormonism. Creating and claiming space is also a key theme in the “Women’s Work” feature, where Natasha Rogers interviews Tamu Smith, co-founder of Sistas in Zion, a social media platform amplifying the lives and faith of Black Latter-day Saints. Tamue Smith describes the origins of Sistas in Zion: “So we created this space where we could be ourselves. . . . We gave ourselves permission to be who we are . . . ” In this interview, she also discusses her current and recent projects, passions, joy, and faith.

Sorrow and depression also appear across many of these pieces. “Moving through Sorrow” by Tesia Tsai turns an honest eye to the ways depression can impact spirituality. In “Crossing the Finish Line: Why Our Sisters Need a Different Race,” Meg Rittmanic shares the brutal impact serving a mission had on her body and calls for a mission that honors menstruating bodies and mental health. “Come Jesus,” a poem by Elaine Turner, also wrestles with sorrow — the sorrow of observing “submission before a government that has become a god,” as the speaker examines photographs of the victims of mass deportation.

As you move through the essays, poems, interviews, talks, paintings, collages, textile arts, and photographs that make up this issue, I hope you will find something new, maybe something you need this spring. May these pages surprise, comfort, teach, and expand us.

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