23.4.08

montevideo notes 7 - light


Almost every evening this week I’ve walked down the road to Playa Ramirez to take in the sunset.

At this time of year the sun disappears somewhere over the Cerro, sliding out of the sky over the sea before hibernating under the continental lip. The beauty of a setting sun is a ubiquitous, democratic pleasure, so to eulogise the near phosphorent armageddon that occurs on a regular basis on Playa Ramirez is perhaps unnecessary.

However, the one thing I have observed and savoured anew on this trip has been the nature of the late evening light that arrives with the departing sun.

This light has a textural quality, a density. Aquatic and enveloping, it cocoons the passenger. It possesses similar qualities to a warm bath, or a soft hand stroking skin. The light’s shades heighten and obscure the city’s colours, but above and beyond its visible traits, it acts in the role of shadower or guide, holding the citizens’ hands as they venture into a new night, a darkness containing the eternal uncertainty of what the dawn might bring.
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