Darkness

Directed by Ezra Wube

In Wube’s latest video “Darkness” (2021) the artist questions negative associations of the word, presenting it instead as “the alpha and omega,” a productive force behind the formation and existence of the universe and a condition leading to the possibility of light and images, as experienced in time. A continuous, fast-paced slideshow of black and white images culled from Google searches of compound words beginning with “dark” form the background for vivid animations of the same words, in an attempt to undermine any viewers’ preconceptions. Wube stresses that while blackness is visible because of the presence of light, darkness, defined as the absence of light, cannot be seen or therefore described.