Self-Negotiated project

 

Sleeping is an intimate act requiring full trust in your surroundings. There are two main stages of sleep; Rapid Eye Movement(REM) and Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM). During REM, brainwaves are similar to that of being awake and conscious, when the most vivid dreams occur. During NREM, there are slow brain waves, an unconscious state.

 

I took a series of photographs of the shut/sleeping eye with a macro lens to show the structure of the eyelid and explore theconcept of the self in a state of unconsciousness

 

.I focused my research on the physicality of the bedsheets; how they were arranged during my sleep. Each morning, I took a photo of the plain sheets in whatever position they were found and completed a dream journal to document as much as I could about what happened during my unconscious state.

 

Looking at bedsheets, I observed similarities in their shape and form with the macro-photos of my eyelids.

 

Dreams can be bizarre and unrealistic; is this a loss of self or a true re-enactment of ourselves? After researching Tracey Emin’sseries Insomnia, I wanted to experiment documenting myself sleeping. I set up a time-lapse camera to record the uncontrolled,unconscious movements made during sleep. This was a personal project to learn more about myself during times of nomemory or consciousness.