Eating Light

"Eating Light" is an artist’s take on the process that supports all life on earth, the transformation of energy called “photosynthesis.” The video follows a common convention from science videos explaining photosynthesis, starting with the cosmic scale of the sun and moving to the molecular or nanoscale of photosynthesis in the cell. I used photographic imaging for the scales that we could see with human eyes—fudging a bit by including an electron microscope image—but at nanoscale, which we will never “see,” I turned to drawing. I am fascinated by the ways we think through drawing; the drawing in "Eating Light" is loosely inspired by two earlier drawings that aid thought — one from artist, Joseph Beuys, who spoke and drew his mystical philosophies of energy on a blackboard in performance, and one from a different kind of artist, the scientific illustrator credited as Somepics. The repetitions in the work point to the relentless on-goingness of this life-giving process, which begins anew every sunrise, repeating with a precision far beyond what most humans can comprehend. Throughout the video are hints at its construction, such as the visible green screen, aligning with the awareness that art and science are both human constructions, approaches to the totality of our mysterious world, which is always more vast than our understanding. Link to "Eating Light" video: Eating Light