The Illuminated Space

Book excerpt: Literary Nonfiction. Art. Film. Winner of the 2020 Nautilus Award's Gold Medal for Creativity & Innovation. In this fragmentary and fluent little gem--full of light and stunning, full-color images--writer and time-based artist Marilyn Freeman offers up her own contemplative practice of dowsing for and creating "opportune moments" of insight and healing. With humor and humility, Freeman reveals her innovative approach to making video essays, a process developed over years of art-making, study and personal searching--a process of waking up again and again to the extraordinary possibilities hidden in everyday existence. Freeman introduces a theory of "evocative" practice as an alternative to the conventions of narrative and non-fiction filmmaking--a risky and rigorous engagement with form that invites the audience to participate in the creation of meaning. Her examination of the dialectical relationship of sound and image takes us far deeper than just a critical study of audio/visual media--deep into the human heart with its dark traumas and its shimmering capacity for honest and compassionate reckoning. Transgressing disciplinary boundaries and trading authority for authentic inquiry, Freeman takes us with her on a foray into time-based art that leaps and wanders from movie theaters to museums to Instagram in search of the "illuminated spaces" where we encounter ourselves and each other. This book is an essential resource for artists who question the importance of their work in these dark times, and for anyone seeking wisdom and wonder in our ordinary world.