Last year's photography exhibit and subsequent book "Reflections of Christ," by Mark Mabry, has a worthy follow-up: "Another Testament," published by Deseret Book.
Mabry, of Mesa, Ariz., traveled to Honduras to shoot a new series of photos at the ruins at Copan. Untrained local actors — plus Robert Allen, reprising his role as Jesus Christ — were used to portray the events of the Savior's visit to his "other sheep."
The photographs in "Another Testament," accompanied by passages from 3 Nephi, combine to portray powerful images of what might have happened. The visual effect becomes more moving with each page, from people feeling the nail imprints on Jesus' hands and feet, to interactions with adults and children, to baptisms and healing the sick.
In the book's preface, Mabry recounts how after the first day of shooting, he felt he wasn't connecting with the volunteer actors and that they were stiff as they approached Allen in his role.
The next morning after a prayer, Mabry had Allen's wife approach her husband in his role to show how she might act if she were meeting the Lord. Then it was the cast's turn, and the mood changed from the day before.
Mabry writes about a man and his wife, the first cast members to come forward. "They approached Robert timidly, with a degree of self-consciousness. Once they were within about a five-foot radius of where Robert stood in his white robe, … they seemed to forget all about the more than a hundred people watching. The wife examined and kissed Robert's hand. Oteniel, the husband, began to weep and embraced Robert."
That set the tone for everyone else in the group, and Mabry says that each subsequent photo was transformed "into a personal witness that he lives."
As with the first "Reflections," a DVD produced by Cameron Trejo and CD with music by Clyde Bawden and Jason Barney are available. For a preview and more information, visit AnotherTestamentofChrist.com.
Robert Walsh