Proof through the night
The popularity of silhouettes and shadow theatre should be sought in the suggestion of substance which memory and imagination relish to fill. This no doubt is a considerable part of the attraction of abstract concepts; to attribute it only to their communicative utility would be as mistaken as explaining the appeal of shadow puppets by their low cost of production. The enchantment of conceptual abstraction can be profound and elaborate–like that of the human shadow play in Dreyer’s silent Vampyr. As long, that is, as you never try to touch or sink your teeth into such concepts in hopes of getting fed.
Excerpts from S.D. Chrostowska‘s forthcoming Matches.