Sketching with Shadows

I recently finished rewatching series two of the BBC’s adaptation of Wolf Hall. Based on the best-selling books by Hilary Mantel, the series follows the rise of Henry VIII’s chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, and his mastery of the dark arts of 16th century politics. Aside from the brilliant writing, incredible acting talent and stunning costumes, the thing that really kept me watching was the lighting or, rather, the lack of it. One of the absolute joys of both this series and the first has been the use of very low, period appropriate lighting. Several scenes see Cromwell (played by the wonderfully pensive Mark Rylance) writing late into the night lit by only a single candle or him chatting in hushed tones to confidents by the embers of a dying fire. The use of such low light levels brings an immediate intimacy to the scenes with often only small parts of a much larger room being illuminated. This is skilfully juxtaposed with the lavish banqueting and festive scenes of Henry’s court (there are reports of over £20,000 worth of beeswax candles being used on set).

Having spent a lot of my youth camping and being outdoors, I have come to appreciate the elemental pleasures that firelight and candlelight can provide and the effect they have on our surroundings. In today’s modern, well illuminated world, many would only light a room with a single candle in a powercut or in preparation to sing ‘Happy Birthday’. Beyond these circumstances, perhaps with the inclusion of a relaxing bath, we seem loath to darken our spaces and, instead, brightly light our rooms well into the night.

From my point of view, we need to embrace the darkness once again, both as an aesthetic choice and for the health benefits that low light can give us. I’m certainly not the first person to bemoan the lack of darkness in houses; Jun'ichirō Tanizaki’s essay ‘In Praise of Shadows’ contrasts the delicate balance of light and dark in traditional Japanese houses with the artificial brightness of electric lighting. Tanizaki was writing in the 1930s, a time of rapid modernisation in Japan, and he laments the loss of the subtlety and relationship between different internal spaces with the introduction of the lightbulb.

Although he may not have been aware of it, Tanizaki’s yearning for shadow is now being shown to have real health benefits. In the late 90s and early 2000s, cases of Seasonal Affected Disorder or SAD hit the headlines as scientists and medical experts began to link low winter light levels with peoples’ mental health. These findings lead to the use of so-called SAD bulbs as people sought to chase away the winter blues with very bright ‘blue light’ bulbs which mimicked the type of light typically experienced on bright mornings. The neuroscience behind this states that exposure to this type of light triggers the body into releasing cortisol, a ‘stress’ hormone, and norepinephrine (adrenaline) which wakes us up and gets us moving. Neurobiologists such as Prof. Andrew Huberman advocate viewing early morning sunlight as a way to help regulate the body’s natural wake/sleep patterns (more commonly known as circadian rhythms) and the health benefits of getting out into nature are now well established.

But if bright, ‘blue’ light stimulates an increase in cortisol, then there are probably times when this is not advantageous. Studies into shift workers who worked predominantly at night showed that they had higher stress levels and even shortened life expectancy when compared to those normally active in daylight hours. It seems that the use of bight artificial light to illuminate warehouses, hospitals and fire stations was having a detrimental effect on the human body – a system which has evolved to be diurnal. Experiments at Antarctic Research Stations (where it’s almost always either continually light or continually dark) showed that artificial lighting could be manipulated to mimic a more equatorial range of light hues which would help to manage stress levels. This type of circadian lighting systems has now been adopted in a variety of settings where working at night is required.

So where does all this fit in for the general populace? Well, we might not be working shifts, but getting a good night’s sleep can still be difficult for many and changes to how we light our houses can help to remedy this. If viewing bright, blue-tinged light in the morning sparks our ‘get up’ hormones, the opposite is true of our ‘go to sleep’ hormone - melatonin. From my own investigations, there is still a debate as to the exact night-time protocol to adopt but a general consensus seems to state that beginning to lower light levels (both in terms of brightness and height) about two hours prior to going to bed will stimulate melatonin release; preparing the body and assisting in better sleep. The colour of evening light is also important: where early morning light is often described as ‘blue’ light (it doesn’t actually have to be blue), evening light is best when it has an orange or red hue (think ocean sunset rather than dark room or submarine). If we stop and think about it, it makes perfect sense from an evolutionary point of view. Dusk was a natural signal to our primitive brains that night was approaching and time for sleep. When our hominid ancestors harnessed fire and extended our ability to stay up into the night, these light sources were low to the ground and gave off an orange light. I’m not advocating that everyone reverts to open fires and candlelight (which have definite downsides such as carcinogenic fumes and atmospheric pollution), but I think there is a real argument for being very deliberate with how we light our spaces and not just whacking on the big light all the time. In my own house we very rarely use the ceiling lights in the evening and instead rely on standing and table lamps to provide different levels of light source in a room. My bedside lamp has an LED bulb in which can be turned to an orange setting for reading. I have a range of ‘blue-blocker’ apps on my phone, tablet and laptop which automatically reduce screen glare and change the colour balance in line with the time of evening. There is a growing trend amongst fitness influencers for wearing blue-light blocking glasses in the evening to do a similar thing, but I do think there’s such a thing as over-optimisation…

Beyond the benefits of a better sleep (both felt anecdotally and seen from the results on my fitness tracker) I have really come to enjoy the ‘winding-down’ effect that the lower levels of light give me in the evening. In the same way as candles and a relaxing bath can sooth away the day’s stresses, I find a comfy sofa and single table lamp can produce a similar effect. Moreover, the change in light level casts shadows on the wall which I have increasingly come to notice and appreciate. Where Modernism was concerned with ‘painting with light’, I find myself making changes to our furniture in order to create better evening atmospheres. I’ve not yet resorted to drawing by the light of a single candle, but who knows, sketching with shadows might be exactly what we all need.