RESPONSE TO SHADOW

So many definitions of 'shadow' on the internet. Some of them quite contradictory. These are some of my favourites:

Apparition: something existing in perception only; "a ghostly apparition at midnight" - Perception. Does the viewer 'fill the gaps'?

Trace: an indication that something has been present; "there wasn't a trace of evidence for the claim"; "a tincture of condescension" - Could this be related to my cornflour experiment? Where the traces of the singlet became the shadow? So then the creator does not have to exist in the present.

To cloud; to darken; to cast a gloom over. - Could this be about the process? To change what was? "To cloud" perhaps just means to change.

An imperfect and faint representation; adumbration; indistinct image; dim bodying forth; hence, mystical representation; type. - I really like this definition. Mystical and imperfect. Now maybe we percieve the object differently. Is it different? To what degree does it have to represent what was before?

An immitation of something. - This definition contradicts the previous statement... I think?

When I smoothed on the straps of my cornflour singlet, I wondered whether it was the familiarity of the garment silhouette that prompted the action. Do the internals matter? Can only the seams exist for me to feel I am wearing the garment? Do we register the garment if the silhouette does not exist? I decided to deconstruct a shirt, leaving just the garment shadow.



The 'new' garment becomes a shadow of what previously existed. Now the viewer fills in the gaps - because we know how a shirt should look and we can assume it's skeleton. In psychology, this is called a behavioral script.

Wikipedia definition:
"...a sequence of expected behaviors for a given situation. For example, when an individual enters a restaurant they choose a table, order, wait, eat, pay the bill and leave. People continually follow scripts which are acquired through habit, practice and simple routine. Following scripts is useful because it saves the time and mental effort of figuring out an appropriate behavior each time a situation is encountered."

I took a series of photographs, abstracting the 'garment shadow' by the shadow it cast. Interestingly, a sense of depth within the photos misrepresents and distorts the relationship.