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Fall 2019: Challenging Perceptions of Light & Dark

My Black is Beautiful: Building Black Pride

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Photos by Milan Loiacono Editor’s note: The ability to write one’s own story is a luxury. Society often tries to wrestle the pen away, dictating a narrative that is rarely accurate and often damaging. The incredible women pictured throughout this story — Peace Ikeduba, Olivia Robinson and Heavin Hunter-Hernandez — took back the pen to define for themselves who they are and … [Read more...] about My Black is Beautiful: Building Black Pride

Flipping the Script: Challenging Motifs in Literature and Film

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From the opening pages of Genesis to the opening scenes of Western movies, media has traditionally associated light with positivity and darkness with negativity. Across literature and film, authors and directors use literal light and darkness to suggest figurative meanings about characters, plots and themes. Villains sneak in shadows, dwell in dungeons and cloak … [Read more...] about Flipping the Script: Challenging Motifs in Literature and Film

Seeing the Value in Dark

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Cemetery flowers in "Dark Spring" | Photo courtesy of Katherine Parsons Out of the darkness, bright tulips bloom. Others wilt and whither. In "Dark Spring," Digital Art Professor Katherine Parsons' art project, she explores how cemetery flowers reflect both life and death. This VR experience for Coaxial Arts in downtown Los Angeles focuses on the relationship between … [Read more...] about Seeing the Value in Dark

Silhouetting Sound: Light and Dark in Music

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Art by Jordan Smith. Milan Loiacono contributed to the reporting in this piece. Music has the ability to elicit a wide spectrum of emotions. It can create suspense in a film scene. Evoke nostalgia from a middle school dance. Help someone cry through their first heartbreak. Music as an art form is an experience, a mood, a feeling. Musical styles express … [Read more...] about Silhouetting Sound: Light and Dark in Music