Blue Light Blue (2021)

• 83%
• 2021
• Horror
• Anna Hawkins

Blue Light Blue is a film and video work that uses the blue light emitted from the backlit LED screens of cellphones, tablets and laptops as a formal element, an experimental narrative device, and a primary material. The work draws aesthetic inspiration from horror films and the cinematic device of "day for night"—a technique used throughout the history of film where footage shot during daylight is processed with a strong blue tint so that it reads as nighttime. Throughout Blue Light Blue, the notions of day and night are confused and the protected, intimate space of the bedroom is transgressed. Blue light is cast as the antagonist in a pseudo horror film where screens masquerade as mirrors or windows or light sources, all the while surveilling us as we gaze into their simulated depths.