In Conversation with Raquel Rosildete

The pioneer of the work "Colors in Between"

by Ilo Tarrant

This month at The SEED, we had the privilege of sitting down with Raquel Rosildete, author and pioneer of the groundbreaking lighting design work “Colors in Between.” Colors in Between is an examination of how best to use theatrical lighting to illuminate diverse dark-toned skin, and an invitation to open up a discussion around race and representation. She recognized that there was a gap in theatrical lighting design around how to illuminate different skin tones, so she set out a method of testing how to do it. With the help of performers of color, she tested different lighting positions and color filters to discover how best to illuminate dark skin.

Rosildete is both a theatrical and architectural lighting designer. She is a thinker and a creator with an inquisitive mind. She discussed with us how the work came to fruition out of necessity. “I had a moment of inspiration when I was the lighting designer for a play that featured many women of color. Seeing the different skin tones on stage I suddenly asked myself, ‘do I know how to do this?’” She began to question everything she had learned and practiced in lighting design, and realized that when stage lighting is taught and discussed, the subject of how best to illuminate performers focuses on a ‘default’ of white skin. “That is the basis of racist thought: when we believe one type of skin is universal and we ignore the differences between people and the stories their skin has to tell.” The work began in Berlin, in the midst of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter Movement. Rosildete recalls “I always ask myself, how can I do something? And I realized that I had the power to do something as a designer.”

“Everything that I’m doing for this research is something that I want to change inside of me.  I don’t want to automatically use whiteness as a reference.” Recognizing that she saw whiteness as a default was a surprising realization for Rosildete, who has been confronted with questions around race throughout her own life. In her native Brazil, she was considered a white person. When moving to Copenhagen for her masters degree in lighting design, she suddenly found herself navigating the world as a person of color.  She describes the skin as the membrane between the individual and society, “it dictates everything from the moment you’re born.” Her research sets forth a pathway for lighting designers to become anti-racist allies. First, we recognize and question the old idea that whiteness is the default. Then, with both technical and poetic strategies we create a pathway for performers of color to be more visible so that their stories can be told. “I try to keep the practices of looking at people as individuals.” We as lighting designers, must confront our own ways of seeing, and recognize the importance of seeing people in space not as merely surfaces to light, but rather complex individuals with their own unique stories.

So how do we implement change in architectural lighting, to include a variety of different stories? Rosildete emphasizes that the work goes far beyond lighting design. Though the instinct may be to focus on the technical aspects of color rendering and visibility, there is another dimension to visibility that is far more important.  “It’s more about the industry, and the daily life of lighting design than about the lighting itself…nothing is going to change if we are not there.” Her work and research emphasize the importance of being a listener, an observer. Perhaps one of the most rewarding moments within the preparation for “Colors in Between,” was an unplanned moment of storytelling between two performers in her piece. In the midst of testing different lighting filters on stage and observing the results within the skin, the performers began to talk to one another and tell their ‘skin stories,’ narrating the origins of their familial lineage, and how they came to be on this earth. Raquel had a moment where she thought to herself “this is happening without my help, I have nothing to add here, I just have to light it.” This, in a sense, captures the essence of our role as lighting designers. We do not invent new objects, we do not have to create what isn’t there. Our job, in many respects, is to observe what is present and emphasize it accordingly. “[We’ve] been looking at people as if they were surfaces. But they’re actually people, who have their own stories. And who [are we] to tell stories that don’t involve them?”

By Ilo Tarrant

To learn more about Raquel Rosildete and her work, click the link below:

The SEED's Spring Playlist 2022

A sampling of what we are listening to