What defines us?

As I have been contemplating shadows this week, I was struck by the awareness that without shadows we lose our defining visual realities. Imagine a simple line drawing of a smiley face, now think of a black and white photograph of someone's face. What is the difference? Both have rounded outer edges, a nose, eyes, and mouth, but the photograph has value, in art that means gradation of black to grays to white. It is this shadowing that shows the textural structure of our faces, the distinguishing shapes that allow us to identify each other. We move from generic cartoon images to idividuals with unique features that encase our personhood. It is the tension between light and shadow that brings out the humanity we all share in. The same basic elements in diverse arrangements, exposed by the light and defined by the areas of shadow.