The series of photographs presented here were taken immediately on waking from a nights sleep and were shot on consecutive days, every morning, during December 2004.

My interest for the piece lay within thinking about subtle dances: those that take place unintentionally, involuntarily perhaps. For this I was keen to uncover and reveal time-based movement, wishing to search for the nuances that make images such as those I have shown here weighted with potential and captivating to view. For, I believe, they at once both embody the macrocosm and microcosm: creating a distance to step back from the everyday to reflect, to ponder, and provide a torchlight that shines in and illuminates minutiae waves of being.

My inspiration initially grew whilst considering how my face changes and morphs throughout the day. In the morning it looks well worn and ragged yet by the afternoon it softens as it wakes up and by the evening it appears pleasantly relaxed and open. These changes often seem quite dramatic yet most days I don’t even think about or notice them. And for them to be witnessed by others they may have to be with me regularly, perhaps 24/7, to determine these occurrences and would, no doubt, have to make conscious efforts in observation.

So then, how to document these transformations in my facial landscape? I began by thinking to take a series of photographs throughout the day, maybe over a period of a week, to record such delicate shifts in movement. This seemed too difficult, impractical. However, it did direct my thoughts down another avenue and I started to wonder about my face as I wake in the morning and the changes that must occur whilst I am asleep. Maybe I could contemplate, for this project, the dance that takes place throughout my face (body) as I rest?

To explore ‘a rest in movement’ (or the movement of rest) really enthused and excited me for even in rest we are never wholly still. We may mentally fix ourselves, as too seemingly inanimate objects, however, on the wider scale of living, of be-ing, nothing remains static, nothing stays still. There is always movement. Stillness is truly only an experience or an appearance. Internally it is the harmony of body and mind. Externally it is the fleeting marriage of elements. But the body and life is always in continual flux, there is always an eternal flow: fluids that keep oozing, breath that keeps pumping, hearts that keep beating, nerves that keep pulsing, energy that keeps vibrating, matter that keeps decaying… And, of course, minds that rarely stop wandering!

So what might these photographs reveal? Do they simply denote how rest informs my face? Do they illustrate the dance of electrical impulses that feed my body whilst asleep? Perhaps a dance of cellular regeneration? Or do they expose something more? Is this possibly the dance of my subconscious mind? A mind that keeps climbing throughout the dark of the night into the corners, the crevices, the tissues, the muscles, the pores, the wrinkles, to speak in the expression of my post slumber face?

As harsh and potentially ego crippling (!!) as these photographs could be I find them exquisitely beautiful. Even the fact that some are slightly out of focus seems to add to their appeal. The images point to the many photos I have taken over the years exploring movement, the body and consciousness and, within this project, they have opened a new door: to the creation of more time-based photographs of a similar nature. To shoot over a year perhaps or simply a few hours, to shoot in the morning then again at night……..

Photos from this series will be uploaded shortly.