Luz y Sombra - Mitchell Point Tunnel
- Jul 23
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 23
Luz y Sombra is an exploration of the Mitchell Point Tunnels and the unique qualities of light and shadow cast by its curving forms. This journey through varying shades and qualities of shadow is also a metaphorical exploration of the journey through grief. It’s non-linear nature, and moments of fractured experience - the interplay of light and darkness and light's capacity to penetrate each bend in the path out to the other side.
In grief, or difficult times, there may be glimpses of clarity, and the world outside and beyond us, to remind us that there is a destination that we are working towards, and to which we will hopefully emerge - an unfettered world we existed in before and a world that we will one day exist in again. Each step presents a new angle and perception of your experience. So multifaceted, one day can feel completely different from the next. One day blinding shafts of light may blur into pure darkness, bringing the haze or confusion of experiencing simultaneous sorrow and joy. Another day you may bask in pure light, then the next day, pass through an infinite gray dimness that obscures any sense of light.
Through photo collage, inks, and gouache, I explore the nature of this spectrum. Some shadows are soft and gentle, others bleak, others black and impenetrable. Just as light can bring a comforting warmth, filtered calm, or a blinding harshness - one shade is not worse than another, they are all just different parts of a bigger experience.
Chinese medicine explains how everything contains the seed of its opposite. How a state of light cannot exist without the presence of darkness. We are only able to see because of this interplay between light and shadow. Experiencing the two is an intrinsic part of the human experience, and when the time comes to pass through the cave, the tunnel, the dark passage - full presence with its vast and varied spectrum of light and shadow is what illuminates our path forward. I move towards light, I honor shadow.
Ink & Gouache on paper, 6x6" Ink on paper. Ink on paper. Ink on paper. Four Ink studies of Mitchell Point Tunnel.
More Musings
Pair with Lana Del Rey's Album:
Blue Banisters
View my process // processing video here.
The history of the Mitchell Point Tunnel and the Historic Highway Columbia River Highway is a whole other story I hope to explore here in the future.
Special thanks to my cousin Dana of Wellspring Healing Arts for the deep dives into the principles of Yin-Yang
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