By José Sarmiento Hinojosa

It is impossible not to think about Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon when experiencing the light decomposition spectacle that ensues Jodie Mack’s “Let your Light Shine”.  Made for “prismatic spectacles”, the mechanics of Mack’s film plays with an optical game in which light serves as a vessel for a 3 minute experience of abstraction, a playful encounter with the possibilities of the prismatic rainbow that is devoid from energy.

An experimental animator, Mack has been playing for years with domestic and recycled objects, always searching for the counterpoint between game, art, and an opaque narrative that permeates all these objects, which brings her work into special category rarely inhabited by other filmmakers. With Let Your Light Shine, Mack makes use of the basic elements of light, to create a one of a kind optical experience.

Within the visual narrative routes of the Avant-Garde, at a first glance, the fireworks of Mack simply deliver a good time of aesthetic pleasure, the “kitschean” images of her found magazine pages, blankets, knitting patterns, encounters with light and such, provide the viewer with a good show, in moments somewhat reminiscent of some late 60’s rock show psychedelic shows. In the aftermath though, one is left thinking about the roles of the found objects and their relation with gender roles , a sort of reminder about the implications of decoration in a form of a cinematic collage. Let Your Light Shine wouldn’t feel out of place in a rock concert or a light show, its prism game, kaleidoscope maneuvers are as enchanting as exciting.

Jodie Mack is an artist worth getting into, with remarkable works such as The Future is Bright, Undertone Overture, and other films that create this playful psychedelic oeuvre which reflects upon the domestic with a new gaze  which bridges the Avant-Garde with the quotidian.

Director: Jodie Mack