Light and Dark Assignment
In my project, the way I approached it was that whatever was representing me was light, while the background was all black—as in the creation stories where first there was darkness, and then light was bestowed allowing everything to become visible, and allowing us to see. In a way, choosing the elements that I wanted to use to represent me, was a way of bringing these things into the light, into visibility as I cut away the black paper to give them shape.
I found it interesting how Kara Walker does most of her work in black and white, and that the same idea of dichotomy that is represented through the colors (black and white) and the technique that she utilizes (from the late 18th century applied nowadays) is also found in the stories that are told by her characters. The people represented are those who have most of the power and those who are mostly victims, but even those that have very little power are represented both while having power and while being the victims of power, such as the Negress.
It was fun reading William Kentridge’s article and how he talks about the nature of shadows when writing about Black Box, and that “something about shadows makes us very conscious of the activity of seeing.” The idea of light and shadow as representing the things that we see and don’t see in all areas of life, and through all the senses, is a very interesting analogy. I know that there are often things right in front of me, that no matter how much natural light shines on them, I still don’t see them—somehow, to me, they are in the shadows—inaccessible.
In my project, the way I approached it was that whatever was representing me was light, while the background was all black—as in the creation stories where first there was darkness, and then light was bestowed allowing everything to become visible, and allowing us to see. In a way, choosing the elements that I wanted to use to represent me, was a way of bringing these things into the light, into visibility as I cut away the black paper to give them shape.
I found it interesting how Kara Walker does most of her work in black and white, and that the same idea of dichotomy that is represented through the colors (black and white) and the technique that she utilizes (from the late 18th century applied nowadays) is also found in the stories that are told by her characters. The people represented are those who have most of the power and those who are mostly victims, but even those that have very little power are represented both while having power and while being the victims of power, such as the Negress.
It was fun reading William Kentridge’s article and how he talks about the nature of shadows when writing about Black Box, and that “something about shadows makes us very conscious of the activity of seeing.” The idea of light and shadow as representing the things that we see and don’t see in all areas of life, and through all the senses, is a very interesting analogy. I know that there are often things right in front of me, that no matter how much natural light shines on them, I still don’t see them—somehow, to me, they are in the shadows—inaccessible.
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