Out of context, what is a shadow? It can be color and darkness, a blocking of light, a shapeless mass—a barrier. But seen through color and transparency, without shape, the shadow dissolves. It becomes only color, a way of looking deeply without judgment. Shadow, sight, acceptance, and release—the letting go of the need for definition. Looking into the shapeless mass, we meet it where it is, allowing it to be nothing more or less than itself.


As a child, I saw the world differently. Shadows weren’t only the absence of light; they were colors without names, shapes without edges, presences without definition. I would stare at them, feeling a quiet resonance I couldn’t explain. When I tried, the world told me I was wrong, different, alone. This work reconsiders that childhood way of seeing—transforming shadow into presence, possibility, and acceptance.


Image description:
Abstract photograph exploring shadow as color and presence, with soft edges suggesting memory, perception, and acceptance.