Allegory of the Cave
These images are photographs taken while exploring caves in Palawan. Using a neural network, these images play with light in a new way.
The play of light poses questions on the nature and potential of photography, a medium that plays with light, and shows parallels with Plato’s "Allegory of the Cave.”
This series is my love letter to the Philippines.
“The Fire”
What is reality? In Plato’s Republic, “The Allegory of the Cave” describes prisoners who are tied in a cave and forced to look at a cave wall from birth. Behind them is a fire that casts shadows on the wall. For them, these shadows are reality.
210cm x 29.7cm each
Photography
Taken in Palawan, Philippines
in 2017
Printed in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in 2019
Back in 2017, I explored photocopying as a photographic medium. It intrigued me because of its accessibility and its potential to empathise with my best friend, who was colorblind.
“Abstract Forms”
Abstraction in art is the representation images different from how they appear in the “real world.”
However, our experience of the physical world with our senses is unique.
Maybe the “real world” is just a shadow on a cave wall.
“Blindness”
A prisoner is freed and forced to look at the fire, causing pain to their eyes and confusion in discerning objects from their shadows.
For my colorblind friend, their experience of the world is totally different from mine even though they are theoretically the same.
“Light”
In Plato’s metaphor, seeking out light is analogous to seeking the truth. Searching for the fire and discovering the sun was a step closer to the answer.
This led me to explore other technological tools as ways that alter perception.
Among them is photocopying. Often associated with derivative and mechanical work, these works also explore the relationships of society, art, and technology.
“Liberation”
After escaping, the prisoner returns to the cave to share the news of the world with sunlight.
