Delimiting Space with Light

The project “Delimiting space with light” unfolds the story of a girl who suffers from achluophobia, the fear of darkness. While she returns home, through her transition from public to domestic space, from brightness to darkness, from safety to fear, her perception of darkness shifts over time. The story is placed in a neutral environment of a Dutch city, highlighting how darkness and fear can diminish or completely change the essence of a space.

The video combines fragments of her illusion of space, her inner thoughts and some pivotal moments in the history of public lighting. Stop-motion was chosen as the primary technique to capture the character’s experience of space. The scenes were created with limited scenography using paper, wire and fabric, illuminated with a variety of lights in a 35x30x34cm box.

As someone who personally experiences achluophobia, creating this narration gave me the opportunity to delve deeper and redefine the perception of my own fear by exploring its multiple layers. Moreover, through researching the history of street lighting, I came to appreciate the profound role that light plays in shaping the spatial, emotional, and social dimensions of our surroundings, particularly in defining boundaries. The combination of personal thoughts, selected historical moments and references to certain issues of contemporary society, such as surveillance and light pollution, encourages reflection and further investigation.