Robert Knight: Sleepless.

When I woke up this morning I thought I had a good night sleep; I went to bed quite early and didn't wake up till morning, without any interruptions. But did I really get my rest or is it not really as it seems? Robert Knight might have asked this same question, because he started a multimedia project on the subject of sleep. Using a combination of layered photographs, audio and video recordings, he has created portraits of sleepers over time.

These images are not ones of sweet sleep though, or depictions that readily describe something specific about each particular sleeper. They successfully accomplish what Knight writes was his goal all along: a story about sleep itself. The images portray the fact that we are often not at rest, not powered-down and not peacefully dreaming.

"Sleepless examines the contradiction between our expectations about sleep and its nocturnal actuality. It reveals a state of restlessness through the ethereal and translucent bodies, which are captured during long-exposure nighttime shots. The resultant images are nighttime narratives—stories of our night's sleep which suggest a contemporary sleep crisis in our society." thus Robert Knight.

If you're in Boston in June and July, you can experience this multi-dimensional and layered study firsthand at the Gallery Kayafas from tomorrow.

Sleepless
June 4 - July 17 2010
Gallery Kayafas, Boston, USA

Written for BLEND.