1. 123
“But how could they know about shadows when they do not even
want to be aware of the fire in the cave and its light... In the ‘alle-
gory’ the things that show themselves are the ‘image’ for the ‘ideas.’
But in the sun in the ‘allegory’ is the ‘image’ for that which makes
all ideas visible.”
Martin Heidegger
In the light-filled museum presenting Sonja Thomsen’s “Glowing
Wavelengths In Between,” I happened upon the infinite. No crowds
pushed passed me to photograph, no guards ordered visitors to stand
back. The emptiness of the room in no way reduced the aura of the
art; in fact, the silence doubled as a symbol, answering how the vis-
ible ideas still remain out of our awareness, which Thomsen’s work
so elegantly awakens. Outside the museum, as expected, people hur-
ried past while looking at their own fire, a screen of distraction en-
tangling them in a deception of the real.
Thomsen’s photographs question our contemporary understanding of
“the real” by juxtaposing the known and unknown in an interplay with
transcendent ‘light’ as the subject. She does this by contrasting the sub-
ject as boundless light with forms of human control or separation. Her
photographs position humanity in anonymity outside of the subject’s
illumination, not as demotion, rather through unawareness. The figure
simultaneously remains at a distance while trying to control the essence
of light through geometric shapes, hence logic and tools.
In Proof (i), a figure, standing in the ocean, holds a geometric mir-
ror that reflects back a brilliant light that shines like a stunning gem.
We cannot see the figure’s face behind the mirror because the tool
blocks recognition causing the figure to remain hidden by logic in an
attempt to control light. The tool sends the light in a new direction
as the obstacle equates with our manner of logical thinking; and
though the tool obstructs the subject from experiencing the light
directly, it implies that the figure, literally, has a hold on logic. While
experiencing indirect light through reflection, the figure maintains
an illusory balance between humanity and nature. Not only is the
figure’s awareness of the brilliance of existence precluded; but the
figure remains chained to the cave wall, obligated to hold the mirror
while trying to balance in uncontrollable water.
Deconstructing this image, we find that humanity is not the cen-
ter of ‘being,’ and misses the totality of “being” in contemporary
distraction. The glow of the wavelength reflects off the mirror,
sending color refractions on either side. The light creates a “spec-
tacle” in a color spectrum, as the shadows danced on the cave wall.
Although tools create a semblance of control, their presence covers
the possibility of approaching the infinite, which just might be in
between the glowing wavelengths.
This exhibit questions the paradoxical reality of our cultur-
al manner of “being” in the world, a mediation through logic
and technological tools that creates the illusion of knowledge
or power, uniquely doubling back in our inability to “see” this
exhibit. Our logical manner of thinking judges the immediacy of
the forms, obstructing any possible freedom, outside of logic, of
our own individual thought.
Rather than the shadows cast from a fire and the images cast
from a man-made spectacle or screen; the light makes the image
visible, but awareness comes from the original light without me-
diation. Thomsen’s work provokes the awe of this original rela-
tionship. If we give up our tools, we look for beauty without our
habitual constructions. Our contemporary eyes gaze continually at
light, but the light of a screen narrows our vision while excluding
the peripheral unknown. Technology extends this ability into the
world and maintains our dwelling on earth, but our truth is his-
torically contingent if the cultural norm necessitates slipping into a
robe to hammer the gavel of “correctness.”
(May 14 - August 9, 2015)
Paige Lunde is a Ph.D. student studying the Philosophy of Art Theory and
Aesthetics at The Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts (IDSVA). She
is also an artist, art educator, and arts advocate living in the Chicago area.
Sonja Thomsen: Glowing Wave-
lengths In Between
DePaul Art Museum - Chicago
Sonja Thomsen: Glowing In Between
By Paige Lunde
Sonja Thomsen, Proof (i), 2014, pigment print, 12” x 9.” Courtesy of the artist.