The Conscious Digital Art Work from Margaret Phanes

Alasart Interview

Illuminating Consciousness: The Digital Art of Margaret Phanes

Margaret Phanes is a pioneering digital artist whose work bridges the realms of art, meditation, and spiritual transformation. Since 1989, she has explored digital media as a form of visual meditation, translating her background in painting, collage, and art therapy into luminous compositions that evoke energy states and higher consciousness. Deeply influenced by Agni Yoga and Integral Yoga, Phanes’ art is not just an aesthetic experience but a tool for healing and self-discovery.

In this interview, she shares her journey from corporate marketing communications to the digital arts, discussing how her practice evolved alongside advancements in digital illustration and photo editing software. She also delves into the profound influence of yogic traditions on her creative process, revealing how Light-Fire energy and the transformation of consciousness manifest in her work. Through her digital visual meditations, Phanes continues to push the boundaries of art as a spiritual practice, inviting viewers into a world where light, color, and form become pathways to inner awakening.

The Digital Mysticism of Margaret Phanes: Light, Form, and Consciousness

Margaret Phanes’ art is more than a visual experience—it is a meditation in itself. Rooted in her profound inner explorations, her digital works bridge the gap between seen and unseen realities, using light, transparency, and symbolic forms to translate meditative states into tangible imagery. With decades of experience in digital illustration and photo manipulation, Phanes has developed a distinctive artistic language that resonates with the concepts of illumination, expansion, and the evolution of consciousness.

Light as a Medium of Expression

At the heart of Phanes' creative process is her unique relationship with light. Unlike traditional media, digital art allows her to work with light as an intrinsic element of the composition. The luminous quality of pixels, emitting radiance from within the screen, mirrors the way she experiences light in meditation—emanating from above, within, and all around.

This interaction between digital light and spiritual perception transforms her artworks into expressions of inner vision. Through layers of transparency, shifting color modes, and intricate overlays, she captures the ethereal glow of meditative states, where the boundaries between form and formlessness dissolve.

The Power of Transparency, Overlays, and Shape Evolution

Transparency plays a vital role in Phanes’ compositions, enabling a dynamic interplay between different layers of imagery. By adjusting visibility and opacity, she creates an impression of movement and dimensionality, evoking the fluid nature of inner experience. These shifting transparencies, combined with overlays, offer a sense of expansiveness—an open-ended, evolving visual space rather than a static image.

Color blend modes enhance the luminosity of her work, allowing for subtle transitions in hue and radiance. The interplay of these digital effects intensifies the impression of iridescence and energetic flow, echoing the vibrational frequencies of consciousness itself.

Repetition and shape evolution are also central to her creative process. Using vector graphics, she builds libraries of symbolic forms—often circular, representing the wholeness of awareness—that remain infinitely editable. This allows her to refine and evolve recurring patterns over time, much like the progressive deepening of spiritual practice.

Light-Force Meditations: Visual Portals to Awareness

Phanes describes her work as Light-Force Meditations, a term that encapsulates both the visual and energetic dimensions of her artistic practice. Her compositions function as meditative objects, concentrating awareness in much the same way that traditional mandalas or sacred symbols do.

This approach aligns with the ancient practice of Tratak, described by Sri Aurobindo as the concentration of vision on a single, luminous point. In her works, the focused interplay of light, shape, and movement encourages the viewer to enter a contemplative state—one where consciousness expands and perception deepens.

For Phanes, digital art is not merely an aesthetic pursuit but a way of expressing and sharing states of heightened awareness. Through her compositions, she invites the viewer to experience a remembrance of inner light, a reconnection with the soul’s luminous essence. In doing so, her art becomes both a personal and universal meditation—a journey into the depths of consciousness, illuminated through the transformative power of digital creation.

Musings on Light: Cosmology of Light—A Visual Manifestation of Unified Illumination

Margaret Phanes’ artwork Musings on Light: Cosmology of Light serves as the cover for Pravir Malik’s book of the same title. This image, an intricate interplay of radiant circles, gradients, and transparencies, embodies Phanes’ exploration of light as an all-encompassing force.

The composition is centered on a divided circle, segmented into four distinct parts, yet intentionally fractured to indicate the evolving aspects of light. These divisions mirror the thematic structure of Malik’s book, which explores the transformational nature of light across dimensions. Beneath these layers, a luminous force radiates outward—symbolizing the ever-present source of illumination that transcends form and space. Additional spheres populate the composition, representing the infinite potentiality of light’s manifestation.

For Phanes, this piece is more than a cover illustration; it is a meditation on the omnipresence of light. Just as scientific and spiritual traditions have sought to unify our understanding of energy, her work seeks to visually express this integration, bridging cosmology, metaphysics, and the aesthetics of light itself.

The Brightness of Soul Power in Visual Meditations

Central to Phanes’ artistic vision is the concept of soul power—an inner luminosity that influences her creative practice. Drawing inspiration from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, she sees the soul as a divine spark, evolving through consciousness and guiding personal transformation. This notion is deeply embedded in her digital compositions, where light functions as an active force of revelation and self-discovery.

Brightness in her work is not merely a technical element but a representation of the soul’s radiance. Mandalas, layers of obscured and emerging light, and the interplay of luminous fire all evoke the process of inner awakening. For Phanes, visible light is a metaphor for spiritual illumination—the connection between the One and the many, the unifying presence that pervades all beings. Her visual meditations serve as invitations to experience this connection, translating the ineffable into imagery that speaks to the depth of the soul.

Evolving Color and Shape in the Light-Based Medium

Phanes’ journey through digital art has been marked by a continuous evolution in her use of color and form. In earlier years, her work incorporated real-world imagery in digital collages, weaving transcendent themes through manipulated photographs. However, she found that these images were limited in their ability to depict energy and consciousness. As she transitioned into digital illustration, she gained the ability to directly render inner perceptions, refining her approach to light and color.

The creation of color swatches has become a vital aspect of her process. Working digitally allows her to fine-tune and store carefully curated color palettes, experimenting with how different hues transform the same composition. Her understanding of color has been deeply influenced by Sri Aurobindo’s writings, which explore the vibrational essence of light. However, digital color presents its own challenges—particularly in avoiding oversaturation and achieving the subtlety of metallic and iridescent effects.

Beyond color, dimensionality has also undergone a significant transformation in her work. Earlier compositions relied on opacity, transparency, and radiating lines to create depth. The discovery of blend modes revolutionized her ability to manipulate color shifts, transparency effects, and luminosity. Layer by layer, these digital tools allow her to expand the complexity of light interactions, creating immersive visual experiences that feel dynamic and alive.

Conclusion: A Visionary Illumination

Margaret Phanes' work is an evolving dialogue between light, consciousness, and digital form. Her meditative approach to art transforms the digital medium into a conduit for inner vision, where transparency, radiance, and dimensionality become pathways to higher awareness. Whether through the unified cosmology of Musings on Light, the soul-bright presence in her visual meditations, or the meticulous evolution of color and shape in her compositions, Phanes invites viewers into an experience of light that transcends mere sight—it becomes an encounter with the luminous essence of being.