JaceArc

Hallways are interesting to me because they are a liminal space. Liminal simply means a threshold from point A to point B, say from the elevator to your apartment or from the carpark to the mall. The uncanny feeling I mentioned stems from the fact that these places are normally filled with people, when it becomes empty, it becomes…. unsettling.

What's more interesting is there was actually a whole genre of liminal spaces in photography but not just hallways, abandoned places as well, like shopping malls, swimming pools, offices and more. They're liminal because they're caught in between what they were and what they will be.

What I want to focus on though, is the feeling that comes with seeing those images. Most described that they are uncanny, this eerie feeling of familiarity that shouldn't be there. Because we have never been to those places, and yet they feel familiar. Places we know… but only when they're filled with people. It's almost as if our memories have plucked out every sign of life before showing us the final image.

Like have you ever returned to a place you visited in childhood but it's not quite what you remembered? For example I once visited my primary school and… it felt… smaller, not because it changed but I… changed.

What's most interesting to me though, while I stare into those pictures. Is how it mimics our whole state of being. Or to be specific, our state of becoming. Don't you think?

From us at this moment to the next project, graduations, job promotions. It's the sort of liminal space we're in, not quite what we were but not yet what we'll become.

I am in one right now. Not in crisis. Not healed either. No longer what I was, not yet what I will be. So I'm just in this sort of uncomfortable state where I'm stuck with resting and focusing on recovery...

This is where you might say, “Jace, you're going too far.” I'd argue that our entire life is a liminal space in between liminal spaces, from birth to death. Living in itself is liminal, a constant state of growing and becoming. At least, that's what it feels to me.

There is an us before and after a liminal state but that after-state can become a before when a new liminal space comes.

What does this all mean for me? It's a sign to keep growing, keep learning, keep going because this is the liminal space where I can decide the ending. Unlike those empty hallways that have an uncertain ending, where you feel like you have to walk faster. You can sculpt your own ending with intention.

I am not out of the hallway yet but like every hallway there is an end to this, and I look forward to all of you seeing me out of it.