Latter-day Saint Paige Payne’s artwork is beloved among many Christians for its beautiful depictions of finding faith in the Savior during mental health challenges. Her watercolor and acrylic paintings have received over 1 million likes on TikTok, and she currently has 128,000 followers on Instagram.
Through her artwork and social media presence, Paige is open about how the Savior has comforted her through anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
“I have found that when I look outside myself and try to use my talents to share light, I feel the Savior’s light brighten my life too,” she recently shared in an article for the Church magazines.
Paige believes Christ has the power to reach us in our brokenness and that He will “[make] every thing beautiful in his time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
He Connects Our Broken Parts
A concept that has become an important theme across Paige’s paintings is kintsugi, a Japanese pottery technique that melds broken pieces together with gold to create a valuable final product. There are no perfect homes or families, but Christ connects our brokenness and can give us “beauty for ashes” (see Isaiah 61:3).
“Through Christ, we believe that ‘all things work together for [our] good,’ and I think kintsugi is the perfect way to show that,” Paige says, referring to Romans 8:28.
This visual representation of Christ’s Atonement has helped Paige reframe some of her personal trials, like mental health challenges and her parents’ divorce, into valuable lessons that have helped her connect with the Savior’s healing power.
“I feel like a lot of the time in our culture, we’re trying to make it look like the breaking or brokenness never happened, and I love that in this Japanese technique, they highlight those broken pieces,” Paige says.
In He Binds Up the Brokenhearted, Paige uses this framework to visualize how Christ fills our wounds with His love—ultimately connecting us to Him.
To help the image feel universal, she intentionally made the figure that Christ hugs in the image abstract. “I really wanted to make the person He is hugging abstract enough that anyone could imagine that it is them,” Paige explains. “I hope that when you see this piece you can imagine that He is hugging you, binding up your broken heart, healing you and helping you become something more beautiful than you could ever imagine.”
Ultimately, Paige is grateful for the way that her own challenges have brought her closer to Christ and allowed her to bring light to others in their difficult moments.
“My mental health struggles make me feel like I’m broken sometimes, but it’s not something I need to cover up or hide or be ashamed of. It’s something that makes me empathetic and unique and tenderhearted, and I know I’m a better person because of those things now because the Savior has turned them into something beautiful and helped me see the value in those things.”
Explore more from Paige Payne
For more inspiring artwork, check out the articles below.
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▶ Beautiful new painting brings Jacob 5 to life (even if those 77 verses intimidate you)
▶ This painting took 12 years to come to the canvas. Here’s what it teaches about grief and ongoing healing
