IMAGE out of DARKNESS

Abstract

This document is a narrative reflection on my past year and a half in Helsinki, Finland, living artistic practices to create a multifaceted master’s thesis project that traces concepts of “image” and “darkness.” It begins by telling the narrative of my formative first 6 months in Finland. I reflect on “darkness” as it transfigured from my physical experience in the dark of Helsinki winter, to an internal poverty, and then an artistic concept. I describe my first participatory artwork that was the ground for formulating significant elements of the thesis work. This first section centers around a long journal entry written during early months testing emergent ideas of using my body as a camera and introduces the influential ideas of David Abram and Susan Sontag. The next section details the beginnings of the main thesis work, Silence Chamber. The intent of this chapter is to answer the where, what, why, and how of this situated woven branch structure, its surrounding environment, and my rituals. This chapter is significant as it reveals the complexity of my first intensely durational, site-responsive work. It begins the embedding of my most vital source: the extensive chamber journal I kept throughout my process. The most substantial section goes through each of the essential chamber practices: the participatory sensory experiences facilitated with visitors inside the structure. I chose these practices to describe in detail as each supports evolving questions of darkness, image, and perception. The next section considers the reasoning behind why I refused to photographically document Silence Chamber or allow any visitors to do so. It concludes with comparative justification by addressing the work of several other artists. The final main body section describes the artworks I made for Kuvan Kevät as an attempt to translate the site-responsive work to the university gallery space. I give space for words scribbled in the dark when experiencing my installation as a visitor instead of the artist. I use the conclusion to identify some core aspects and values in my practice, and imagine their continuation. I end with contemplating what is carried from the process of the thesis work and my ongoing practice of sensory inscription in the ensouled body.