…the colour of the confection yōkan; and is it not indeed a colour to call forth meditation? The cloudy translucence, like that of jade; the faint, dreamlike glow that suffuses it, as if it had drunk into its very depths the light of the sun… – Junichiro Tanizaki

How can light and shadow provoke emotion? Lighting, as a designed device, is often used as a tool to illuminate the dark, but simultaneously eliminate the relevance of shadow. Although darkness is an indispensable element of light, they are contrasting qualities that are interdependent. Both function as a symbolic and emotional quality of light; where light may convey a sense of presence, warmth and comfort, darkness can evoke uncertainty, mystery, or even insecurity.

Light produces shadow, which is inseparable from darkness. Black Light explores the concept of revealing darkness of light through form and material – investigating what is revealed and what remains obscure, ambiguous and incomplete – through a study of the nuances of light and dark, shadows, materiality and quality of colours that light may reveal.

Lighting design is about illuminating a space with light, but it is also about a space of shadows. Black Light focuses on the experience and the emotion that is evoked through the quality of light within shadow and form; embracing the darkness as well as light, and its possibilities of exposing shadows through the use of form and material.