Dusk is a series of photographs about light.
I started making DUSK in March 2020, when my uncle was diagnosed with stage IV cancer. In October of 2022, he died. We buried him on a clear, fall day, when the colored leaves were at their peak, our faces warmed by the sun — a small solace on a difficult day.
Made to the backdrop of a world in mourning, Dusk would be a reminder of a simple truth. That no matter what, the sun would always rise, and light could always come from darkness.
Light, the most fundamental ingredient of life, guides everything on earth. Dusk, lit entirely by candlelight and shot entirely on 4x5 film, is a monument to the beauty of natural light. The candles are made from beeswax. On film, their warm, ambient, glow resembles the light of the sun due to the wax’s high boiling point.
The photos contain backdrops I created in photoshop, made to reference the setting sun, and installed in small rooms I built. The backdrops mimic colors I found in paintings by Monet, or installations by James Turell, both masters of light. The colorful installations set the photographs in a never ending sunrise or sunset— a never ending moment of dusk.
As we walk closer to potential climate catastrophe, as the pandemic still casts a shadow, I am stumbling my way out of what feels like the never ending twilight of disaster to find solace in small moments lit by the distinct light of hope.
Joyfully marching into the future.
Into the misty dusk of a new day.
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