The Illuminatur Project

Jonatas Chimen references the Allegory of the Cave, of Plato's Republic, through the use of Light Painting in a collaboration with photographer Johnny Cortes.  The Allegory of the Cave is presented after the metaphor of the sun (507b–509c), as Socrates describes a group of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them, and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows. According to Socrates, the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to viewing reality. He then explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not constitutive of reality at all, as he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the mere shadows seen by the prisoners... (www.princeton.edu)".