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Abstract
Capturing the Sublime Light documents a search for a means to explain and explore a personal, phenomenological experience of perceptible and nonperceptible light. It leans on the reading of the sublime most closely associated with the Romantic art movement of the 19th century, where the sublime idea exists beyond the confines of rational thought.
In the first part of this paper I uncover the rich tapestry of symbolism pertaining to the representation of light in Byzantine iconography, which forms the basis of an understanding of its theological interpretation, from within the framework of Eastern Christian Mysticism. Here I focus on the use of gold materials, which are implicated in the incarnation of icons with the essence and energy of God. In this section I also begin to trace my fieldwork in areas of the former Byzantine Empire: both the study and experience of historical sites, landscapes and icons, and the practice-led research I carried out at specific sacred and historical sites throughout my journey. I further explore my creative process with a discussion of the evolution of the golden line, which weaves its way through the images that I have created.
In the second part of this paper I explore the organisation of visual space in the Byzantine icon, commonly referred to in the context of art-history as ‘reverse perspective’. I discuss the theories of Pavel Florensky and Clemena Antonova, who both argue for a more complex reading: firstly Florensky and his theory of ‘supplementary planes’ and secondly, Antonova and her theory of ‘simultaneous planes’ from within the framework of the dogmatic concept of divine timeless eternity, and a God who exists beyond time. This brings me to a discussion of the existence of multiple simultaneously-visible viewpoints in my images.
Finally, in the third part of this paper I examine work by Russian avant-garde painter Kazimir Malevich. Drawn to his influential use of iconographic symbols, I also discover the more secular philosophical ideas that led him towards the Suprematism movement, and another way to think about my own personal experience of the sublime light