Sleep Walking/Awake

Sleep Walking/Awake

Dear friends, behold: I’ve created my first ever photo series! I exhibited it at the Fall Art Walk this past weekend and I will be happy to take it to more venues! Enough excitement, here are the details 😉

The display at the Fall Art Walk at I.B Nuts & Fruit Too on Elm Street in Washington, MO.

Sleep Walking/Awake was born out of observation of daily life and a pair of colorful pajamas I happened to own (which I bought not because I needed them, but because they were cute and a great deal). “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives,” Annie Dillard wisely observed. Too often we get caught up in the daily grind, only to discover at a later point that most of our lives have been spent on doing things we don’t particularly enjoy/find meaningful. It is not so much what we are doing, but how – whether we are fully present in the activity we are performing or always thinking about the next thing we need to do. Pressed by deadlines at work and the daily tasks of maintaining a household and bringing food to the table, we rarely have time to sit still and think about if the way we spend our days is what we want our lives to be like. In the past year I’ve made myself slow down, and I’ve been shifting my focus to the things I have always wanted to do but never had time to. As my to-do list kept shrinking, abandoning activities my heart was not fully vested into, it made room for travel and exploration. Being awake means being consciously present, an active participant in the life you are living. It often requires us to stop in our tracks, make certain changes and leave room for the unknown in our lives. Or it can simply mean to see our daily activities with new eyes and add more presence and joy.

Whatever the case it might be, having my wonderful friend and partner in crime Johnnie appear in public places wearing bold colorful pajamas was the highlight of this project! I could not thank him enough for perfectly embodying my vision and for being an amazing model.

“The wonderful thing about Sleep Walking/Awake is that it will have a different meaning for everyone. I loved the time that I spent posing for these photos and walking around in public wearing bright pink PJ’s. I can tell you that I was most certainly awake during every single shot! It made me think about my own life. At any moment, what if someone were to take a polaroid snapshot of me? Would I like what I see? We all fall “asleep” at some point. Otherwise we would never have the feeling of awakening. The trick is to maintain consciousness as long as possible. Slava is marvelous behind the camera. She is an amazing person. I am thankful to have been a part of this project with her because it has taught me a great deal.”