Liminal Spaces

Bridges in the forest at Frank Ryan Park

I recently learned a word that describes one of my continuing artistic obsessions: liminal.

liminal (adjective)
1. of or relating to a transitional or initial stage of a process.
2. occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold.

My art teacher in high school once gave us this assignment: draw something that includes a window, mirror, or door. It was one of my favourite assignments.

A window frames the subject.
The subject becomes more significant because of the frame.

I've seen similar writing assignments: write from the perspective of someone looking through a window.

Where will this road take you?

In both cases, I was entranced by the idea of a visual metaphor for something transitional. Something that beckons. Over the past few years, I've consciously looked for perspectives like that, though I haven't had a name for them.

Where does it lead?

The liminal is as much about unknown as known. It is, in may ways, about letting go of what is here -- what is safe -- and reaching toward potential.

They create a tension, I think, in the viewer, a sense of being excluded or being drawn forward.

Open the doors.

Often, there is a change of lighting between one side of the liminal space and the other, which further deepens the sense of contrast and "otherness."

Doors at St. James Anglican Church, Kingston, Ontario

Doors are a unique kind of liminal space because, if they are closed, they block movement, closing off access to the space beyond. But they still captivate us. (I've seen many posters showing the doors of older cities.)

Even a portrait gains power if it is given a liminal context.

Farewell

It's a theme I will keep investigating.