Week #8 - Diana Herrera – Obsession Lurks Within… But Make It Pop!

 Obsession is the state of being obsessed with something or someone. It is also an idea that constantly comes up in someone’s mind. Obsession is like two different sides of a coin. There might be positive and negative side to it, although, the bottom line is that this feeling can be downright unhealthy all together. 

 

Obsession can have different connotations, positive and negative. Someone can have an obsession with food which is safe to fall under the category of a positive obsession. A good example for a negative obsession would be someone becoming obsessed with another person. The actions influenced by obsession can lead to harassment or invasion of privacy. For this case, lighting would best interpret this word by using angles that reflect that paranoia from the person being obsessed over. For example, I might use diagonal back angles of light with tinty colors to truly reflect that stark creepiness and alertness. I tie this to the obsession of a stalker. A person walking home late at night suddenly is found by a stalker in a lonely street or dark alley. In order to create that paranoia, we might see a silhouette of the stalker rather than their well-lit face and body. We can see this play out in the movie The Shining. When the man becomes obsessed with trying to kill his family, the lighting in the fil becomes colder and more shadows are seen as referenced in the images below. Another term for obsession can also be addiction. An addiction to drugs, and addiction to constantly checking up on your partner is another example. 

In terms of positive obsession, for example a television show, food, band, or flowers, I see lights playing with the word in a playful pungent manner by making bolder choices in color and loudness in the design. This connection is made from the example of Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty merchandise has a lot of pink. If a person were to be obsessed with this brand, you would see plenty of pink in their world. An obsession for Christmas, we might see an overwhelming amount of Christmas lights and decorations as seen in the picture provided below from the time I went to see people’s Christmas lawn decorations last year.  People’s commitment to set up a full display of lights in their lawns shows a clear obsession for the holiday.

 

Overall, this term provides a lot of versions for interpretation with lighting as long as the lighting gives a sense of overwhelmingness and lack of control. With this being said, I’d love to play with this word in my lighting designs in the near future.