Paola Cabal in Conversation with Janine Mileaf

The exacting, durational activity performed by Paola Cabal to document the passing sun on The Arts Club’s brick façade for her garden project titled What Means Light? facilitates an avenue of thought about the cultural meanings of light and darkness that have now come up against an intensified cultural context as the country faces a pandemic and calls for racial justice. Cabal expresses her questions in philosophical terms: “What means light? Since when has light been equated with virtue? Who will we be when the viral threat recedes? Who will we be in the wake of a ferocious wave of awakening to inequity? Who will get to the other side alive? By what means?” To observe is to understand, she further explains. And if Cabal’s thoughtful engagement attests to her powers of observation, then she evidences keen vision that guides our viewing and reflection.