Light from without 鈥� and from within
The changing patterns of light illuminate our homes, and during the pandemic, noticing these small moments can lead to inspiration and discovery.
The changing patterns of light illuminate our homes, and during the pandemic, noticing these small moments can lead to inspiration and discovery.
Spending 24/7 at home has acquainted me not only with the everyday wonder of light, but also with myself and my thoughts. Pre-pandemic, my mind was crammed too full, too focused on the next activity, on who had said what to whom. But now I not only look forward to these empty, quiet moments, I actually crave them.
The gift of time, like the gift of light, is something worth contemplating and training myself to notice, as an artist hones her awareness of shapes, colors, and the light itself. Staying so close to home, I am attuned to the slightest shifts in my interior life. The long list of preoccupations I had 10 months ago has dwindled down to the essentials: family, health, gratitude. Everything else is merely shadow.
The effort to find beauty, structure, and meaning in everyday聽life often makes it necessary to dig deeply into one鈥檚 inner life. When artist Amedeo Modigliani unveiled a portrait of a painter friend, the friend asked why he had been depicted with one eye open and the other closed. Modigliani replied, 鈥淲ith one eye you are looking at the outside world, while with the other you are looking within yourself.鈥澛犫�� April Austin
The play of light
By Elena Terife, Instagram @eterife
SANTIAGO, CHILE 鈥撀營 am a graphic designer. I use an iPad mini to collect these instants. I love looking at the world in a playful way, mainly when the light produces new scenes especially for me. During the lockdown, I was completely alone with my cat, but with the companionship of the amazing winter light that turned our home into an almost infinite world. Somehow, capturing these images (and sharing them) helped me forget I was confined.
Quiet transformations
By Vivian Poey, Instagram @vivipoey
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 鈥撀營 live in a small space. The extensive time at home during quarantine made me notice the space in new ways: the light, the imperfections, the kitchen table. I saw light shift through the day and land in new places as seasons change. The space constantly transforms over time in both quiet and spectacular ways that I had never noticed before. I photograph some part of it every day; I could do it endlessly.
This photo essay first appeared in the Jan. 25, 2021 issue of 海角大神 Weekly magazine.