I'll Leave The Light On

I'll Leave The Light On

Carter, Erin

Medieval theology understood Catholic Mass as a re-presentation of the Crucifixion. Historically a screen or rood screen was a specific kind of barrier in the church, accentuating the tension between concealment and revelation. It functioned to divide the building where the consecration of the Eucharist would take place from the congregation. Parishioners were able to see the movement of the bread being elevated through the holes of the screen, allowing them to witness the most holy part of the mass while being distinctly partitioned. Drawing from formative experiences in Catholic school, doctrine teaches that this moment witnesses Christ’s body offered again, bread and wine changing into the Body and Blood of Christ. “I’ll Leave The Light On,” is a durational installation that restages this logic visually. A lit candle in the window signaled safety and welcome during penal repression against Catholics. Here it serves to resurrect Christ and loop the animation, emphasizing the cyclical nature of indoctrination reminiscent of the stations of the cross, a catholic devotional ritual commemorating Christ's passion and death. The sculptural element is made of found objects, specifically the screen door from my childhood home, where years of wear scratched into the surface breaches the partition in the bottom corner. As the film projects on and through the grid of the screen it creates a varied image based on the viewer's position around the object, emphasizing sacred reality as present, but not perceptible, reinforcing obscurity as truth making authority necessary.

2026