LIGHT. SUBLIME.
The Sublime could be described as the supreme or perfect beyond contemplation or the awe inspiring. Our perception of the world is predominantly guided by light, from the perceptible to the invisible, colour to darkness, feelings both emotional and physical. It could be said that the way we see and interact with the world is guided by light. James Turrells 'Roden Crater' uses the power of light to create and ignite the sublime. Roden Crater evokes “contemplation on the nature of light and how our minds distinguish it”, “ A place for perceptual imaginings, connecting the light of the heavens to the inner light of the human mind”.1
The Shrine of Remembrance delicately controls light in order to evoke particular appropriate feelings within people participating in the one-minute silence at 11am. These feelings may be of honour, of warmth, of contemplation, or the sublime.
St Patricks Cathedral also uses the control of light in order to create contemplation of the sublime. In the cathedral, one has the feeling of calm, which evokes quiet contemplation of that which is bigger than themselves.
The idea presented that light may be the guide through which we can begin to understand the sublime influenced my visual response. I started first with the idea of colour being a bi-product of light, and photographed light shining though varying shaped and coloured 3d shapes. I then furthered this idea to include movement and time that is included in Roden Crater. Movement I introduced through projecting the movement of water, with the coloured shapes onto a wall with a torch, and time through a video response rather than a still. This left me with a work that attempts to evoke contemplation and feelings of sublime, through my control of light.
1 (Mcleod, R, ‘james Turrell’ in the interior, nomad issue, vol 1, Nos. 9 and 10, spring/summer 1996-97, pp. 32-33)
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