Manifesto #2
{Virgin with Corona by Odilon Redon 1898}
Ok, dear readers, we know that we are guests here so we will try to be on our best behavior. We will wipe our feet on the doormat upon arriving and turn off the lights when we leave. We will refrain from sharpening our claws on the sofa and promise not to root through Tara’s sock drawer or peak into her diary…With that stated, we must take up the glove and accept the challenge, which is to simply vindicate darkness itself…
We believe in darkness in all of its many forms. Darkness is to wear the cool night upon your skin, to shun the sunlight, to crave the illumination of the stars. It is to drown ones senses in languid pools of indulgence, to drift upon velvet seas and feel the sting of satin…
{Inferno by Franz von Stuck 1908}
Darkness is the language of crows and ghosts. It slithers through one’s mind whispering of forgotten realms and lords of old. One must listen for its eloquence in ice and stone and the rustle of wings, for darkness is fey and wild and belongs not to the land of now…
We enfold ourselves in shades of darkness and paint it upon our being. It is the shadow that accompanies us on our daily tasks. Darkness is the color that covers our walls and drapes our doorways. It is the obsidian stain that drenches our carpets and chairs in a swathe of inky blackness. It is an altar to decadence and a shrine to beauty…
{Death at the Ball by Felicien Rops 1875}
{The Derelict by John Pryde}
Above all, darkness is the taste of freedom, of turning way from society’s norms, to embark on the path less taken. Fear not the dark, dear ones, and take to heart the words of Albert Camus… “There is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night.”
::I want to thank S+S for being kind enough {and brave enough} to tackle the first guest manifesto. I am so thrilled to finally get things underway, and what better way to start than with their unique blend of the dark, strange, and surreal!? If you would like to learn more about this project, you can read about it here and here. If you would like to participate, please don't hesitate to contact me. I look forward to the upcoming manifestos!