The Dark Matter Hippo of Grief: The Dark Redacted

My collaboration on The Dark Redacted began with the realization I had been living with an invisible hippo of grief for decades.[1] The idea of grief as an invisible hippo of dark matter is inspired by a lecture I attended in June 2019 at the International Symposium on Electronic Art, in Gwangju, South Korea. Michael Doser, senior research physicist at CERN, Switzerland, gave a keynote presentation “The Dark Side of Light” showcasing the incredible amounts of information on the universe that have been gathered in the last decades.[2] 76% of the universe is invisible and undetectable dark energy, and 24% of the universe is matter. Of this 24% matter, only 4% of the universe is light matter, that is, stuff that we can see. There is five times the amount of dark matter, or approximately 21% of the universe that cannot be directly seen or documented by any of our electromagnetic tools. To visualize the amount of dark matter in the world, Dr. Doser posits that for each one of us light matter beings, imagine there is an invisible hippo of dark matter standing right beside us. This beautiful analogy is such a deeply inspiring motif for me. My constant companion is an invisible dark matter hippo of grief. Yet as I write this, as I draw this, the hippo transforms, as my grief transforms, into a dark matter gateway for a deeper cosmic connection with life.

 

[1] Szoke, Donna, and Gary Barwin. The Dark Redacted. Invisibility Series. St. Catharines: Small Walker Press, 2020.

[2] http://www.isea-archives.org/isea2019-presentations/isea2017-keynote-alain-ruche-how-looking-at-life-from-another-angle-enriches-the-contribution-of-art-and-technology-to-socio-economic-development-and-peace-2-3-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-4-2-3-4-2-2-2-2-4-2-2-1-5/