… you must resolve the problem of ‘sleeping without sleeping,’ which is the essence of the dialectics of the dream, since it is a repose which walks in equilibrium on the taut and invisible wire which separates sleeping from waking.
-Salvador Dali, 50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship (1948)
Participating in group shows with a theme and deadline is often a great motivator, narrowing my focus and forcing me to be productive and decisive. This month I started and finished a project for BookOpolis: Dream a Book, a book arts exhibition on the subject of dreams and dreaming. This new work, Threshold, will be on view at Asheville BookWorks through May 17, with an opening reception on March 17.
Threshold explores states that exist at the boundaries of consciousness, where dream and reality intermingle. Five booklets – sleep paralysis, hypnagogia, fugue, reverie, lucid dream – visually depict these dissociative experiences, in which the mind and body are out of sync, awareness is disjointed, or wakefulness and sleep overlap. Each booklet is created from a single sheet of handmade paper, and unfolds to reveal imagery on the interior. The set is held in the pockets of an accordion book structure with translucent acrylic covers, and a sixth booklet containing definitions of the different liminal states.
[Click on booklet titles below for links to additional images of each.]
1. sleep paralysis - temporary paralysis occurring when an individual passes between stages of wakefulness and sleep. The inability to move, speak, or react is often accompanied by hallucinations and the sensation of breathlessness. Many people also report sensing a malevolent or menacing presence nearby, or experience floating, falling, or out-of-body episodes. The symptoms of sleep paralysis have been attributed to supernatural causes such as demons, aliens, or other evil creatures by almost every culture throughout history.
2. hypnagogia - transitional state between wakefulness and sleep in which the mind is fluid and hyper-associative; thought to be a rich source of ideas and inspiration.
3. fugue - dreamlike state or period of dissociative amnesia that includes loss of awareness of one’s identity, and is often coupled with flight from one’s usual environment. During the altered state of consciousness, the individual seems to perform acts in full awareness, but upon recovery cannot recollect the acts performed. ALSO: a musical composition with repetitive, interweaving elements recurring in two or more voices.
4. reverie - state of mind characterized by abstraction, deep mental absorption, and release from reality; daydream. ALSO: an extravagant conceit of the imagination or illusory mental image; a fanciful, visionary, or impractical idea.
5. lucid dream - one in which the dreamer has awareness of, and often influence or control over, the narrative of the dream. ALSO: lucid - suffused with light, luminous.
1. sleep paralysis - temporary paralysis occurring when an individual passes between stages of wakefulness and sleep. The inability to move, speak, or react is often accompanied by hallucinations and the sensation of breathlessness. Many people also report sensing a malevolent or menacing presence nearby, or experience floating, falling, or out-of-body episodes. The symptoms of sleep paralysis have been attributed to supernatural causes such as demons, aliens, or other evil creatures by almost every culture throughout history.
2. hypnagogia - transitional state between wakefulness and sleep in which the mind is fluid and hyper-associative; thought to be a rich source of ideas and inspiration.
3. fugue - dreamlike state or period of dissociative amnesia that includes loss of awareness of one’s identity, and is often coupled with flight from one’s usual environment. During the altered state of consciousness, the individual seems to perform acts in full awareness, but upon recovery cannot recollect the acts performed. ALSO: a musical composition with repetitive, interweaving elements recurring in two or more voices.
4. reverie - state of mind characterized by abstraction, deep mental absorption, and release from reality; daydream. ALSO: an extravagant conceit of the imagination or illusory mental image; a fanciful, visionary, or impractical idea.
5. lucid dream - one in which the dreamer has awareness of, and often influence or control over, the narrative of the dream. ALSO: lucid - suffused with light, luminous.
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