Bill Viola :

Viola's themes are usually dealing with dualism. Contrasting opposites in abstract ways. Majority of his works deals with either life and death, stressed or calm, light and dark and quiet or loud. One example of this can be from his ocean without a shore theme. He made the piece give off the impression that spirits were crossing from the non physical world to the physical world with the water representing a clear barrier. When the white plain colored subjects cross through the water they suddenly become alive and have color and are visible. Giving the impression that behind the veil exists a world that cannot be seen or heard until it is born. A lot of people also interpret it as people coming back from the dead.

Bill Viola : An Ocean without a Shore

I feel he relates a lot of his work with water and a metamorphosis/transformation to his past experience.
When Bill Viola was 6 years old he nearly drowned in a lake while on vacation with his family. Bill Viola describes the experience as ''… the most beautiful world I’ve ever seen in my life” and “without fear,” and “peaceful”.
Viola's videos have been dealing with the inner or spiritual-self and the boundaries of consciousness. Exploring themes of birth, death, self-discovery and personal transformation.

Another piece that lead me to that conclusion was a piece called Acceptance, 2008. In this piece you see a suffering soul go through a waterfall. The setting is dark with light only focusing on the subjects body and facial expressions as the water makes the form clear to see. When the subject is done passing through the water, she is no longer suffering and has found a sense of peace and relief. The water can be seen as representing life, meaning the subject was going through life and when it was all over..... It wasn't as bad as it seemed.

Bill Viola: Acceptance,2008

In the piece named The Encounter, Bill Viola shows two women one elderly and one younger walking down two different lanes both leading to the same crossroads. Towards the end the 2 women meet and the elderly woman gives the younger woman a gift. The elderly woman than walks back through the younger woman lane while the younger woman walks through the elderly woman lane. I interpreted this as 2 woman both young and old on their journey through life. During the exchange it felt as if the elderly woman was gifting the younger lady with wisdom to prepare her. When the changed directions I took it as a symbol of the younger lady becoming mature and the elderly lady not taking life so serious anymore.

Bill Viola: The Encounter:

Bill Viola was quoted saying "I am interested in what the old masters didn't paint, those steps in between." This statement might have led to most of his great visual pieces where he captures the moments nobody really notices after the final product. In his series The Quintet of the Astonished he does just that. He records 5 different actors and their facial expressions during a time lapse. The audience has a chance to see how the picture develops. How the artist got to the paint that they are presented with in ordinary art.

Bill Viola: The Quintet of the Astonished