My first social media account was on Xanga. Basically, a very emo platform on which I wrote dark poetry and shared inverted pictures of my sad face. I was actually really happy, but I thought I was being artsy, as we do. My screen name was Absence of Light, derived from my nickname, Shade - that's what my love calls me, and part of how we made up our last name - but that's a story for another day.
Before I even thought of becoming an artist, I was focused on darkness. "Absence of light". Today I started thinking about that as I finished up this dark image. But dark as it may be, I can't help but notice that all of my images aren't the absence of light, but is rather the question of "Where is the light?".
What I do focuses on the beauty of darkness, the duality of it, the questions it presents, and, though the light may be absent, it is implied. I suppose if I were to make a new Xanga account, my screenname would be Implication of Light. A little more awkward to say, and not as poetic, but certainly more accurate. My goal isn't to make you feel dark, but to get you to question where we can let the light in.
"Holding Me", self-portrait, November 2019
All prints are available as limited editions on my website, brookeshaden.com.
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