Mark Peterman
Spaces in the Shadows That Cannot be Illuminated
Spaces in the Shadows That Cannot be Illuminated is a series that combines photographs, fictional writing, architectural models, and behind-the-scenes documentation to form a complex layered narrative that suggests an environment of self-reflection and incomplete recollection.
The scenes, some of which uphold the illusion of reality and others which subtly, or obviously, reveal the artist's creative hand - build a sophisticated environment. Unlike a conventional film, the narrative is patchy, the setting appearing in fragments, but the details, while clearly constructed for the camera, feel palpable and convincing in their specificity.
The viewer is left with a collection of spaces through which any number of people may have passed, representing an array of different moods: melancholy, menacing, beautiful, dingy, familiar, ominous, and cozy. The narrator, perhaps visiting his hometown or childhood dwelling, questions the nature of growth and change, while pondering the difference between a construction and a memory.
Questions arise for the viewer: How does one remember what has slipped into the past? What is the difference between a construction and a memory? How does an image represent something while simultaneously leaving information out? Can photographs document presence and absence?
This work, with its interwoven presentation of art and process, invites the viewer to explore a past where anything might be possible.
