Autumn Transformation, Between Sunset And Shadows
The liminal paintings of John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836–1893) and gothic horror
“The horror of the story comes from the force with which it makes us realize the power that our minds possess for such excursions into the darkness; when certain lights sink or certain barriers are lowered, the ghosts of the mind, untraced desires, indistinct intimations, are seen to be a large company.”
— Virginia Woolf, The Supernatural in Fiction (1919)
I am convinced that in England we are more aware of the changing seasons as we get older and sense such a significant existential change in the very ambiance and inclination of our natural environment. Our bones feel the change, our eyes see the vivid change in colour and light, and our minds follow to find and name the culprit. We need exculpation before we are completely overwhelmed by the Dark.
Being in England it is easy to see what that guilty party looks and feels like — it is the turning of the Earth away slowly from the life and heat-giving Sun. The Heavens change and we change. This change is one of the oldest forces of change in human history. And of course not just for humanity but for all life on Earth. The Seasons create the cycle of change for all life on Planet Earth.
