Perception, Light, and Darkness at a Glance

Material: camera, lightroom, tripod, lighting equipment, gels, mini projector, paper, tape, scissors, clips

Through my project of perception, light, and darkness at a glance I attempted to answer the following questions: How do we see? How do we perceive the world around us? In my mind, I have always viewed the way we see as consisting of two parts, perception as the conceptual piece and light and darkness/shadow as the literal piece. I created a film in order to create a world where about 5 subjects could share their take on what perception, light, and darkness means to them. The film shifts between surface level and deeper meaning interpretations in order to reflect the confusion and complexity of our world. I made this film accompanied by a photo collection to demonstrate the more literal side of how we see. I took photos of objects, architectural structures, and nature to focus on the effects of light and shadow and how it can create shapes surrounding these subjects. I focused on these shapes created in these larger infrastructures to highlight how often what we see are simply components of larger schemes. I think my curiosity about these questions was the biggest drive for creating these works, but I was also greatly influenced by the following artists: James Turrell, Hollis Frampton, and Bill Viola. James Turrell and Hollis Frampton inspired me because of the way they were able to manipulate light and observe its effect on space and objects, while I was inspired by Bill Viola's film composition and how he was able to manipulate time. I hope in the future I can continue creating work which answers these questions as I truly enjoyed working on this film and collection of photos.