I stumbled upon an interesting concept the other day: the Japanese concept of Ma, or negative space.
At first, I found it fortuitous. When I chose Wind Ma as an artistic name, I thought of it as short for “Wind Marie”—“Wind” for the way inspiration seems to emerge like a breeze from out of nowhere; “Marie” for the second half of my name (I won’t name the first, because then, what would be the point of Wind? But iykyk. I’ve made it otherwise readily available, because it still feels a bit weird to go by an artistic name on a semi-pro level, but I digress).
Meaning, that I had given my nom de plume *some* consideration, but not necessarily like *that*.
In any case, I stumbled upon it while reading How to Write About Contemporary Art by Gilda Williams. Which I have to say, is a damn good book. If your (art) writing tends to become convoluted, like mine, you will find much joy and enlightenment in the useful–albeit snarky– witticisms of Williams.
But anywho! Back to the concept of Ma.
Intrigued, I looked into it for more insight. According to Japan House LA, the concept of Ma pertains to a pause in space. Think of the pause in a song, or the spacious emptiness in the middle of the room.
Almost instantly, I felt the concept resonate with “Ma”as in Wind’s. “Ma” quite aptly describes how I approach space in more photorealistic terms. As I paused the reading to reflect on the meaning of Ma, I noticed my eyes wandering across the walls of my room, tracing some of the shadows created by a little fucsia lamp on my desk.
Some veritably interesting shadow forms seemed to wax and wane across the wall—some of which I captured in one or three photos:
So I have to say, it is interesting to think of shadow as another object in the room. It adds a certain depth to what would be just another thing darkly reflected on the wall.