Light In A Dark Forest

Cortney Herron’s latest body of work explores identity as a frequency — something continually transmitted, interpreted, and recalibrated in relation to one’s surroundings. Her figures appear as beings in disguise, with elongated fingers, gloves, veils, masks, and animal forms functioning as tools for translation between the internal self and the external world. Recurring feline imagery shifts from companion or guardian to camouflage, blurring the boundaries between figure and disguise while reflecting the subtle adaptations required to navigate spaces in which one may feel misunderstood or othered.

At the center of the series is an exploration of energy and the invisible exchanges that occur between individuals. Herron considers the tension between what can be controlled or concealed and what is inevitably communicated through presence, perception, and connection. Her figures appear to move between possible versions of themselves, shifting in response to how they are perceived. Through this evolving visual language, Herron examines adaptation as a form of endurance, revealing the complex ways identity is preserved, transformed, and expressed.

In the artist's words:

"Against a field of black, a pale, feather-like form hovers somewhere between petal and leaf, its lavender undertones giving it a quiet, internal glow, as if it's generating its own signal rather than reflecting one. The darkness around it isn't empty, it's what makes the glow visible at all, the same way disguise only registers as disguise against a world built to notice difference. Close up, the form resists identification; familiar enough to draw the eye in, strange enough to never fully resolve. Its delicacy isn't passive. It's a translation, something otherworldly rendered just legible enough for a human eye to hold. Light In A Dark Forest is the series' quietest transmission, a signal that doesn't ask to be understood, only seen."