While darkness can be frightening in childhood it can also bring a feeling of fulfillment. Darkness can be seen as a connecting element between our body and its environment. Deprived of sight, the body becomes more permeable, allowing interaction between the exterior and the interior — a kind of liberation from our human condition.

Blackout is a series of digital drawings in which black human silhouettes are combined with organic patterns. Drawn by hand using vector tools, these patterns refer to natural elements such as wind, water, fire, and sand. Flowing through the silhouettes, they evoke the porosity of the body and a sense of unity with the outside world. Conceived as an abstract form of radiotherapy, the black silhouettes and patterns are placed against bright, vivid color gradients. The series is a tribute to our unity with the universe, a stand against artificiality. It evokes a return to the symbiosis of body and mind with the natural world — listening to the body and its senses to seek ancestral wisdom, moving toward deep harmony to reconnect with the Whole.

Black Moon — «Black precedes light,» says Pierre Soulages. It is the color of origin, from the ultra-black second before the Big Bang to the dark nights of the Lower Paleolithic, before the domestication of fire. Darkness empowers our other senses: when the eyes are blind, the other senses awaken and expand. It is like a black moon, darkening the sky while making it ideal for stargazing. Darkness is both a mask and a revealer; by depriving us of sight, it elevates us to another kind of knowledge.

Black Box — In daily life, we are absorbed in playing our roles in society. Man has created an artificial place for himself in the world. We exist through action; we prioritize doing over being. Like breathing, our internal mechanisms become unconscious. Society surrounds us with stimuli, causing us to lose touch with our deepest essence. Yet our true nature is not the sum of our actions, but that of living beings — elements among others within Nature.

Black Light — This series of drawings emerges from the desire to draw back the curtain on the artificiality of our lives — to turn off the light, freeing ourselves from society and its representations. As Miss Kittin sings in her album BatBox: «Pollution of the mind, let’s be deaf and blind sometimes.» Closing our eyes to reconnect with water, air, earth, fire — the universe. And in the darkness, allowing primal memories to reveal themselves in the ultraviolet light.

Exhibition curated by Lee Wagstaff.