Ἀμφιφῶς (Amphiphos) 5 minutes | 16mm to digital | 2025 | Greece, United States
An experiment with in-camera double exposures, exploring the concept of dual illumination, and the aesthetics of harmony between two opposing energies, sunlight and moonlight.
SYNOPSIS
Ἀμφιφῶς (amphiphōs) is an ancient Greek term that combines ἀμφί (amphi), meaning “surrounded by” or “on both sides" and φῶς (phōs), meaning “light”, carrying with it the sensation of illumination from two sources. The word appears in a passage in Deipnosophistae by Athenaeus, to describe the sky during a time of transition, when the glimmer of moonlight meets the early glow of dawn on the horizon:
«ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐπικαταλαμβάνεται ἡ σελήνη ἐπὶ ταῖς δυσμαῖς ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ ἡλίου ἀνατολῆς καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς ἀμφιφῶς γίνεται» - Ἀθήν. 14.53.
"For on that day, the moon is setting upon the rising sun, and the heavens become illuminated on both sides (ἀμφιφῶς)" - Athenaeus 14.53.
The term is also cited in an earlier fragment describing a woman from the island of Rhodes who carries a cake lit with candles all around and brings it to the crossroads of the Temple of Artemis as an offering, presumably on a day when the moon was setting upon the rising sun, proclaiming:
«Ἄρτεμι, φίλη δέσποινα, τοῦτόν σοι φέρω, ὦ πότνι᾽, ἀμφιφῶντα καὶ σπονδήσιμα.»
“Artemis, dear mistress, I bring you this, illuminated from all around (ἀμφιφῶντα) and fit for offerings.”
Mirroring the aesthetics of this celestial phenomenon, the filmmaker employs in-camera double exposure on a roll of 16mm film to capture the sunset and sunrise on the island of Rhodes as a woman goes for her daily swim. As a result, the film is a literal and metaphorical experiment in balancing the duality of the moon and the sun—and their various significations: Artemis and Apollo, dusk and dawn, subconscious and conscious, dreams and awareness, intuition and reason, *maternal and paternal.
*This short film is part of a larger, ongoing research project related to domestic archival practices in patriarchal cultures, with a focus on Greece and the diaspora. Alongside that inquiry, the filmmaker has been using the 16mm film camera she inherited from her paternal grandparents to document her maternal lineage.