Wait Until Dark by Chloe Meynier
Wait until Dark is a series of colored images shot from unexpected angles, resembling retro movie stills. The carefully staged scenes explore women’s roles, vulnerability, and question identity.
Each character is drawn from my personal interpretation of American mid-century life and addresses the complexities of the condition of women at that time period. By placing figures in familiar, yet unknown environments, the created scenes are quiet but psychologically compelling. The characters’ emotional states vary between reverie, longing, and self-confidence. The rare absence of characters prompts viewers to slow down to create their own personal narratives. The dramatic lighting emphasizes the emotional overtones of each character while leaving room for interpretation. The imaginary scenes involve characters and décor that are rooted, by appearance, in the mid-twentieth century. The series subtly hints at looming darkness and loneliness but mostly shows hope and self-confidence. The images are charged with an ambiguous narrative yet, allow viewers to stitch all the elements together to imagine what fate awaits these imagined characters. Overall, the work expresses a quiet melancholy and probes tensions between invisible challenges, intimacy, identity, and life. The themes evoked are timeless and universal and the work is an attempt to visually weave together strands of both American cultural history and personal interpretation of this history from a foreign point of view.
Chloe Meynier lives and works in San Francisco, California.
To view more of Chloe's work, please visit her website.
Theatre - Monte Rio, California, USA
Pool – Montpeyroux, France
Bob’s Big Boy – Burbank, California, USA
Motel Diner – Sun Valley, California, USA
Bel Air – Palm Springs, California, USA
Motel Reception – Amboy, California, USA
Living room – Beverly Hills, California, USA
Motel – Palmsdale, California, USA
Bar – Chambon le Château, France
Drive In Theatre - Larkfield-Wikiup, California, USA
Night Bob’s Big Boy – Burbank, California, USA
Munger Moss Motel – Lebanon, Missouri, USA
Bank of America, Palm Springs, California, CA
Eldorado – San Francisco, California, USA
Blue Swallow Motel – Tucumcari, New Mexico, USA