In Search Of Sleep

Artist Statement

Against the Storm. Female figure with her hands against her chest with a hair blowing directly backwards.

Flight. A brick tower with a pair of feet climbing a rope ladder above it.

Thief. A raven on a small table with old-style glasses and a locket under it. On the left is a hand holding the chain of the locket.

Labyrinth. A female figure standing in the middle of a hedge maze. There is a white statue deeper into the maze.

Where there is Smoke. A figure stands on the left looking into a pair of binoculars. There is a pillar of smoke in the opposite direction behind her.

On The Other Side. A female figure is looking through an ice covered wall of greenery.

Shelter. A figure is seated on a wooden criss-crossing fence. There is a bullet covered building behind her with empty windows and large columns.

Ascend. A female figure is stepping on the first step of a steep set of stairs. There is a the shadow of a dark figure with a hat on the wall to the right of her.

In Search of Sleep

2010-2014

From my earliest days, I have had a difficult relationship with sleep. As a child, I avoided it at all costs, especially at night. To get me back to bed, my father used to tell me stories. They were not traditional children’s bedtime stories but invented tales that began on our quiet street and journeyed down open drains to a dream-world of caverns, forests, and oceans full of unexpected animals and dangers. The story would always find its way back to the real world and end where it had begun, hopefully, but doubtfully with me that much closer to sleep.

In Search of Sleep recreates this shadowy realm and allows me to explore my real-life questions, from personal dramas to romantic doubts. The cyanotype process, with its distinctive blue tones, visually traverses the distance between waking and sleeping. These images are also toned with tea and wine to both dull the blues and add warmth. Tea, wine, cyanide (potassium ferricyanide)– all three of these substances relate to different levels of consciousness that often mirror the mental states evoked by my photographs. In Search of Sleep creates a visual lullaby that allows me to safely explore what I love, what I fear, what I remember, and what I imagine.