ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the process of sensory transition or adjustment to darkness, the uncertainty that accompanies it and the generative possibilities of this for new insight, experience or feelings. It attends to the small but dynamic changes in the apprehending body, the feelings it gives rise to and the ways in which this is productive of meaning and understanding. In doing so, it considers what darkness can offer us as something to think with or through, sketching these conceptual connections through the example of James Turrell’s 1999 installation in Honmura, Japan, Minamidera [Backside of the Moon]. It concludes that darkness enables us to reach beyond our usual ways of knowing the world, adding a precious and important dimension to how we perceive and understand our surroundings, and the ways we take our experiences forward to shape new understandings in the future.
