Essence of Light

2021

Digital black and white print on paper

84.1 x 59.4 cm

In this work I have tried to explore the source of light, which is the essence of light. It has felt almost impossible to grasp because light is ineffable. The nature of light’s essence becomes clearer when light falls onto external materials, obstacles being created by inner resistance that is subjective meeting objectivity.

In the previous works I tried to explore the light coming behind and through the various materials. In this work, taking a different approach, I have positioned myself within light, first because humans are beings through which light penetrates and we also have inner light. I have wanted to see how this light permeates through the materials as well. This new approach has allowed me to explore the invisible essence of light more clearly.

I have chosen bones as a material to explore some aspects of the essence of light. Bones contain the same elements as in nature. They also hold ancestral memories in which both past and future are paradoxically embedded. The large scale of time and space exists within the microcosm of tiny bones. They are the structure of physical bodies having resilience to the passing of time. I have wanted to start this exploration by dealing with the vulnerable reality that bones represent.

I have taken microscopic colour photographs of bones transforming them into black and white negative images. This transformation has enabled me to approach the integral process of light from the visible world to the invisible world more closely. This light has transparency and clarity permeating everything in an interaction of vibrations between the internal world and the external world. Integrating opposites this strong penetrating light also illuminates one’s path providing and protecting individuals. Conflicted human relationships would be eased through recognition that light is both universal and also particular and personal. R.A.