Our eyes advanced for gentle, however it’s at its edges that we see most clearly. It’s within the transformative glow of the solar’s predictable retreat and re-emergence the place the world flaunts its magnificence, the place gentle meets darkness, that we start to know the form of issues. Our eyes could also be blind within the evening, however it’s in darkness that long-dormant senses, like vestiges of some forgotten evolutionary path, awaken. The creativeness indulges within the illusory void of darkness, uninhibited on this planet’s obvious absence. For a lot of, it may be an area of worry, however for Pia Paulina Guilmoth, it’s a sanctuary.
Whether or not in darkness or gentle, with or with out the comforts of sight, what we don’t see nonetheless exists; all the things outdoors of the body of {a photograph} remains to be there. However truths could be indeniable, and we nonetheless want secure areas to contemplate them. Guilmoth, who resides in rural Maine, has lengthy discovered solace and readability in landscapes after darkish, in area that continues to evolve in significance alongside her latest journey by transition. “I’ve all the time felt comfy at evening; I really feel very comfortable,” Guilmoth tells me. “Even earlier than feeling like I used to be being watched for that motive, for being a visibly trans particular person out on this planet, I believe my fears have all the time been about individuals somewhat than something that wakes up at evening.” Darkness hasn’t hidden the world from Guilmoth; it has shielded her from it, enabling her to see the form of issues within the gentle of her personal understanding.
Simply because the treacherous fantastic thing about the spider’s internet reveals itself solely when caught within the glimmer of a uncommon slant of sunshine, so too do objects on this planet outline themselves in our consideration. “Throughout the day,” Guilmoth explains, “I are likely to take all of it in somewhat than specializing in one detailed a part of one thing. At evening, there may be extra discovery. It virtually looks like hidden treasure.” Maybe it’s due to its proximity to our desires that nighttime embodies a sure form of magic, permitting concepts hidden deep inside the unconscious, obscured by the multitude of daylight’s distractions, the area to develop. This nocturnal area of image and thriller, nightmare and fantasy, appears to infuse Guilmoth’s images with their distinctive magnificence, casting a dreamlike reverie even over these made in daylight.
In observing the world, whether or not inside a second of pause or the sides of {a photograph}, we uncover each flaws and sweetness, usually one inside the different. These very contradictions—the distinction between the 2—draw the attention, usually illuminating some sense of their essence. Guilmoth’s images are, of their core, an extension of herself. “The whole lot I do, all the things I make,” she explains, “could be very a lot related to no matter I’m going by on the time.” The pictures supply a spellbinding attract. There’s a acquainted tenderness, an aura of formality divination, of the inevitability and potential of development amidst an unpredictable setting. “I really feel extra in myself and in my physique now,” she provides. “There’s a newfound pleasure that comes with images and making artwork the place I can put my complete self into it, not simply a part of me. I’m exhibiting the sweetness within the ache of life somewhat than it coming from a painful place.” It’s the place magnificence meets ache that we start to know the form of issues. —Alex Nicholson
Pia Guilmoth’s newest e-book, Flowers Drink the River, can be revealed by Stanley/Barker this November. An exhibition of the identical title opens at Webber Gallery in London. These photographs and textual content had been first revealed in Juxtapoz FALL 2024 Quarterly print version, courtesy and with permission from the artist.