Bodies of Work

Skies of the Heart
2012
Wooden scaffolding, incandescent and black lights, wooden limbs, neon paint, 5 custom-made lamps (copper and tin), 5 channel sound.
Dimensions: Variable (5 towers, highest tower 8 m.; 5 lamps, largest lamp 2 m. long)
Sound composition: 19:34

Skies of the Heart, stage left

Installation view (stage right)

Exhibition venue: Higher Atlas, Théātre Royale, Marrakech Biennale, Marrakech

Black light is the highest level of spiritual achievement in Sufi mysticism: it describes the infinite darkness of the sky (rather than the finite darkness at the bottom of a well); it is the colour of the negation of the negative. This installation interprets "black light" literally, making the vernacular neon colours glow in a version of patterned light that sits on the surface of wooden limbs (in opposition to the light emanating from within the copper lamps).