Lights in Unexpected Places
I have always been fascinated with bioluminescence, and things that make their own light. This interest has extended into a metaphorical and creative plane as well. I share with you my own meanderings of finding light in unexpected places through dance, writing, photography, experience, and research into biology. I began this project on the first new moon of 2011, with the intention to countdown to the new moon of the year 2012. After an almost year-long break, I am getting restarted.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
8
Thursday, January 13, 2011
7
I have set an intention to begin this project anew in February, and until then am giving myself permission to be spotty in my work while I prepare for another big piece of work: Raqs Luminaire.
I can't wait to get a little more focus, and will look at this short break as an incubation period...seeds do have to lie quietly in wait until conditions are favorable for growth, yes?
I leave you with this poem I wrote a few years ago, which was published in The Line, the college literary magazine that I named and was briefly president of (until work overwhelmed me). A little flashback, if you will.
Pregnant in a Stiff Jacket
A voracious hunger consumes me:
An ocular aversion brings
A branch heavy with fruit into view.
Caught in a perpetual contraction
The protective grip
Shields
A pinkish bounty within.
A hiss;
Wet whisper.
The flow of sweet juices
Splash wobbly feet below
The gently marred globe.
Laborious unfolding
Draw back
Layer upon layer—
Such work!
Until the object of my adoration
Is revealed
With endless delight.
*2009
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
6
Here is a piece I wrote a few years ago: a structure personified. A written dichotomy of light and dark to ponder today.
Vignette
For twenty-some years I’ve
Traveled past a fertile lawn
That once shone with new beginnings.
In the form of strong beams; contours of heavy stacks
The tools and materials new, yet
Left at the mercy of time.
I’ve watched a tower grow from
These slight, brilliant beginnings, I’ve
Watched it fly to the heavens, in the form of
Gleaming gold,
Wrought with love:
Inscriptions so detailed and perfect.
I’ve taken this for granted
Nearly cowering in love
And admiration.
In the distance,
I discover a rusting hammer
Protruding from the earth.
Panic now sets in.
Steel beams,
Glowing windows,
Now replaced with a
Naked lawn
Strewn
With the blackened skeleton
Formerly known as you.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
5
Friday, January 7, 2011
4
Thursday, January 6, 2011
3
Well here is the second post that I promised you today, though it is not what I hoped to be sharing. I was searching for a photographic print I made in high school. It's a double print exposure, created in my old black and white darkroom that used to be in the building that is now the Coliseum Lofts; it consists of a self-portrait where my face is washed out in a blast of light (experiments with high contrast that paid off well), with an exposure of Luna moth wings extending out from behind my head. I transformed myself into my own little light creature, dark as I was those days. I promise when I find it again I will post it right up.
The search for my shapeshifting print led me down a bittersweet path through some old photos I shot and developed, some which are close to 15 years old. I'm finding that this rediscovery is almost as sweet as new creation, and I realize how much I miss my darkroom and "real" photography . I'll stay with this reminiscing for a little while before I begin creating anew.
On that note, here is another double print exposure that is a bit of a window into my life a long time ago. This is sort of a terrible camera phone picture of a self portrait from when I was about 15. The ladder you see here actually descended into a creepy crazy dark pit on Belle Isle, and the juxtaposition of the ladder across my eyes indicated the inability to see no place but down.
You can see I've come a long way.
Until tomorrow,
K
2
The more I think about the progression of this project, the more I see that there is a chronological order that things will fall into. I began with a vignette of my childhood, so it only makes sense to go from there.
One of the very first lights that I discovered exists in the posterior of the ethereal lightening bug, classified in the order Coleoptera, family Lampyridae, with several subfamilies that range in their luminescent capabilities.
I will wax poetic soon...
Check this description of how one of my favorite creatures light up. (http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/P/Photuris_lucicrescens/)
"The light that a firefly creates is the result of a combination of four different ingredients. This light is produced through a chemical reaction involving luciferin, which is a substrate, , an luciferaseenzyme , ATP (adenosine tri-phosphate), and oxygen. The light producing section of the body is located in the sixth or seventh abdominal section of the firefly. It is within this that the two compounds luciferin and luciferase are stored. A firefly will cavitydraw oxygen in through its complex system of air tubes and expose the oxygen to the luciferin and the luciferin will then oxidize and activate the luciferase. This will generate a light that will shine through the skeleton of the abdomen. It is important to note that scientists disagree about the method that the fireflies use to control the duration of their flashes. One theory, known as the "Oxygen Control Theory", explains that fireflies can control the length and duration of their light by regulating the amount of oxygen that they intake . If little or no oxygen reaches the part of the firefly known as the phonic organ, the chemical reaction will not be extremely strong and the light of the firefly will not shine very brightly or for a lengthy duration. Another theory, known as the "Neural Activation Theory" states that fireflies have neural control over the activity of structures called "tracheal end cells". These structures aid in the initiation of the chemical reaction. Whether or not the fireflies have physical or neural control over their ability to produce light, their method of creating the light that emanates from their bodies is extremely efficient. Very little heat is given off of this light which means that not very much energy is wasted at all."
Wow. I have always thought that bioluminescence would be an amazing starting point for environment-friendly illumination. One of my goals as a biologist (in the future) will be to find out how to make this happen. Perhaps I am just a little silly here, but doesn't the above description seem to describe the method by which to make natural light bulbs?
Until I finish with my own mad scientistry, I will focus on the artistry. For a couple of years now, I've had a vision of a dance that involves chasing and catching fireflies in my skirt. I am working on how to make this happen, and have some pretty good ideas.
Until my dance is created, enjoy this one. I am constantly enamored of the dance of beauty that is order and chaos in our natural world.