Conversation with Darkness

Project 560 (Art Adda) Performance at Old Coal Depot, 2014

In alchemy the matter that was there before all other matter is called the 'Prima Materia'. This was the original substance from which all alchemical transmutation manifested. Coal is the prima materia for the construction of diamonds. Over thousands of years through the alchemy of time, pressure and gravity forms the coal and the prima materia becomes the diamond. Through the prism the white light of the sun shines through. This light is broken up into the spectrum of colors that make up our world. So, through the process of the alchemy of our planet, the coal is compressed into the multifaceted crystal that shines the colors of black through its prism. But now these colors are not coagulated and mixed into the color black - they have been separated and shine with their own radiance. This is a great example of metaphor and how it relates separate items within the same universality. It can be said that the process of time and compression brought forth the diamond. The alchemical earth created this substance from the basest of matter. Within the confines of this matter was the diamond. It was always there - it just needed time and gravity to transmute.

This performance was to understand the journey of coal how it is related to spiritual, philosophical & environmental aspect of life. My attempt was to dwell in darkness of the coal in a metaphoric sense. 

Through this performance audience and I related ourselves to coal and went through the process to understand the journey of coal itself. The performance was essentially to sit on mound of coal and to become one and contemplate in its blackness or darkness something that is living through ages - 400 million years. 

The coal which is also called a fossil fuel because it was formation from the remains of vegetation that grew as long as 400 million years ago. It is often referred to as "buried sunshine", because the plants which formed coal captured energy from the sun through photosynthesis to create the compounds that make up plant tissues. The most important element in the plant material is carbon, through which gives coal most of its energy. In Alchemy the Alchemist often referred to it as a miner. Coal also fits into this symbolic motif. Its meaning has to do with digging deep into the Earth, (Earth symbolizes Nature in its primitive state) to find the Prima Material, of which coal is a symbol. Coal is carbon, life on Earth is carbon-based, and over time coal can be turned into a diamond. The goal of alchemy is to emulate this natural process, but do it much quicker. The coal miner seeks to turn his own body/mind (which metaphorically begins as coal) into the perfected stone that is a diamond.

Dimple B Shah

2014