CELESTIAL VOID

London, UK

CELESTIAL VOID is a series of sculptural lightworks exploring the territory between presence and absence through the medium of light. By careful manipulation of light and shadow, each piece in the series invites viewers to confront the void not as empty space, but as a mirror reflecting their own inner landscape. The exhibition transformed Protein Studios into a space where lightworks served as both medium and metaphor for understanding how we make meaning from emptiness.

Year: 2021

Location: Protein Studios

Medium: Sculptural lightworks, video installation

Artists:

  • TSE (lead artist)

  • Maria Vera van Embden Andres (lighting designer/engineer)

Key Works:

  • CONSTRUCT (2021) - Digital print on aluminum, 1370 x 910mm

  • UNITY (2021) - Tinted toughened glass installation, 916mm x 910mm x h:700mm

  • WANING GIBBOUS (2021) - Aluminum & LED series, various dimensions

  • PHASE I (2021) - Digital print on aluminum, 1370 x 910mm

  • RETROGRADE (2021) - Kinetic glass disc installation, 70 x 175 x 200cm

I had a conversation with Lagos-based visual artist TSE in London one afternoon, where he told me that he was interested in physicalizing his photography. From there, we proceeded to research and develop CELESTIAL VOID – working with test materials, conducting light experiments, all while continuing conversations to develop ideas connected to our experience with “the void”. As artistic developer, I worked with TSE to complete a series of concept sketches, technical drawings, and abstract writings to translate our vision, bring collaborators onto the project, and eventually design the exhibition.

Considering CELESTIAL VOID’s origins in photography, it’s no coincidence that the work examines feelings that arise in the presence of negative space. The eight experimental lightworks challenge traditional notions of sculptural form by privileging absence over presence. Each piece provided a different dialect in a visual language of absence, teaching us to read meaning not just in what was illuminated, but in what remained unseen. In these carefully crafted voids, viewers found themselves both observer and observed, their own perceptions becoming part of the work itself. In the end, what we see in the void is not emptiness at all, but rather the profound fullness of our own capacity for wonder.