REPRESENTATIONAL TRANSPARENCY

Once in a great while, I take a photo that I really, really like.

The photo at left is in this category.  This was taken while in what was called the Prison de Kara, in Meknes, Morocco.  Yes, yes, yes, the Muslims persecuted the Christians by sticking them in an underground jail.  To listen to the everyday news, you would think that this is happening now.

But, alas, this occurred in the 18th century.

Forgetting all political and religious overtones for the rest of this page, the space inside is fantastic.  Except for a couple of electric lights at the ends to help you get down the staircase, the entire space is lit via a series of 12″ diameter round holes in the ceiling.  After your eyes adjust to the darkness, the weight of architectural history settles upon your mind.  All of the light in this photo is natural.

I took the photo above while holding the camera against one of the stone arches.  I used my phone case to help adjust the angle.  And since the shutter speed was something like f15, I had to hold the camera very still.

And the resultant photo was, for me at least, one of the best photos that I have ever taken.  Which then made me want to draw the space from the photo.  I wanted to try to capture the light, shadows and arching space.  But could I do it without abject representationality?

I did get kinda representational.  Yet I found that you indeed can focus on light and shadows while still remaining transparent.  The only transparent principal that I violated was that I did not record the entire structure and how it resolves.

And I kept thinking.  Was Kahn here?  Was Corb here?  On the page CORB IN THE M’ZAB VALLEY, we stated that Corb traveled to the M’zab valley, which is somewhat East.  So it certainly is possible that he saw this.  Any other modernist great who might have stopped by?

For the light and the simplicity and the arches and the light, all combined into a nearly unbelievable architectural experience.

The photo below shows what the light holes look like from the plaza directly above.  It is amazing that these small apertures admit that much light.