Shadow and Shade 

Here is the audio guide script: Nathaniel Sparks created this intaglio print, "Shadow and Shade," at an unknown date, and it presents a stark interplay of light and darkness. The female figure is softly illuminated, contrasted against a dense, shadowed background, creating an immediate visual tension. Notice how Sparks uses the etching technique to build texture, differentiating between the smooth skin of the figure and the rough bark of the tree. The composition is structured around binaries: nature and the ethereal, darkness and radiant light, shadow and shade. This evokes the structuralist concept of paired oppositions that shape our understanding. The radiant dove at the top right serves as a signifier, its meaning open to interpretation: is it spiritual, a symbol of peace, or a beacon? The tension between these interpretations challenges fixed meanings, inviting us to consider the unstable nature of signs themselves. This print asks us to reflect on how we interpret signs and navigate the fluid boundaries between shadow and substance.