‘Blue Somnolence’
‘Blue Somnolence’ explores insomnia, sleep terror disorder and idiopathic hypersomnia. It attempts to visualise how these disorders affect and overcome us, how we cope with them and why they may occur. I have used the cyanotype process to print these images while using pillowcases as a canvas, juxtaposing the comfort of a pillow with the disturbance of the chaotic subject.
Addressing the experiences of the artist, the artist’s mother and the artist’s brother, each piece in ‘Blue Somnolence’ suggests unsettled states generated through the COVID-19 lockdown 2020.
In response to ‘Blue Somnolence’ I created a book titled ‘AKER’ that expresses a more impassioned depth, unveiling a more emotive side of those involved through cyanotype process in a diaristic approach.
Blue Somnolence
Will insomnia strike tonight?
Awoken from the blues
The bed bugs, they bite
As his hand paints a bruise
The haunting of September
An imprint of aggression
The inability to remember
Emanating apprehension
It got out of hand
Sweet dreams they say
With drunkenness, I can’t stand
A safe world melts away
I can’t use my mind
It’s all out of sync
Dissipating before me
I ask, forty winks?
The cyanotype process is a photographic printing process which uses two chemicals: ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide to produce a cyan-blue print after being exposed to UV light. This method allowed me to experiment with different mediums to print on which led to using pillowcases as a canvas in order to directly link back to the overall theme of sleep. The chaotic painterly aspects of the cyanotypes were really important in the work, representing the disruption of the sleep disorders.
‘Blue Somnolence’ and ‘AKER’ were produced during the COVID-19 lockdown 2020. With this experience and the absence of university facilities this body of work suffered before I was able to adapt to the circumstances. It took much longer than originally intended but I was able to fashion a darkroom in my home and expose my prints in an outdoor space. The piece was intended to be an installation of a much larger size accompanied by a hardbound book and a portfolio box encasing some of the test prints from throughout the project. The final creation showcases 16 cyanotypes on pillowcases alongside a book of cyanotype prints.
‘BLUE SOMNOLENCE’
‘AKER’