The Dark Room (2013)

"Imagination is not an empirical or superadded power of consciousness, it is the whole of consciousness as it realizes its freedom." Jean-Paul Sartre

My interest with our visual imagination is what inspired this piece, it is based on a sensory depravation experiment. The booth was purposely designed to withhold any light from penetrating the inside and outside sounds muffled, then added an elevated ground to create the false impression of floating into infinity. As one sat inside the booth the door was closed and then a recording of a person describing a story based on an image was played. Once it ended, the participant would be let out and handed a postcard with that image and they were given the choice to see it then or wait a while before seeing the image to the story they had pictured. Every person created his/her own unique image in his/her head until I showed them the original one.

Graphic design and photography by Emmily Shaw. Booth constructed with the help of Patricio Diaz.

Special thanks to Edward Cushenberry (voice recording), Kristin Shaw (photo collage), and the staff at Art Center College of Design for supporting me on this project.