Artist Statement

In looking at images of Regency homes, there is a huge emphasis on windows capturing as much natural light as possible. Artificial light is relegated to candle light sconces, the fireplace, and the Christmas tree. Using motifs of natural light via the window, contrasted with firelight in the evening, gives a sense of the period through light. Mary Bennet, the middle sister, is the titular Miss Bennet who feels stifled in her life. She pines for adventure; for something to fulfill the vast fantasies of her mind. I looked primarily at the paintings of mid-19th century artist, Odilon Redon. The placement of figures within bold, colorful washes, particularly feminine forms, inspired the lighting for Mary’s World; this great beyond she craves to explore. She is a colorful figure in a relatively mundane world. In many ways, she is a woman ahead of her time. There are various moments inspired by Aurora Borealis. The color and motion high above that surrounds and colors the physical world around her. There are also moments where her emotional landscape is more dower, despairing the possibility that she is stuck in this rut. This is expressed at one moment by her playing “a stormy Beethoven piece” and in tandem sound, lighting here reinforces the sense of isolation she feels; that the world of the everyday, the walls of Pemberley and the lighting therein, is literally imposing itself upon her and suppressing the lofty, colorful world of the northern lights at that shows up at her most hopeful.