Radioscopy of the Sleeper

Merged bodies under crumpled sheets. Blankets shaping the forms, the human being caught in the act of abandonment, surrendered to the camera as the sole witness to their sleep-laden state. A few glances, sometimes drowsy, sometimes wide-awake, fleetingly glance into the darkness, pupils dilated by the dim light. What time is it? Time freezes until one of the sensors placed above the bed detects a new movement and captures the moment. Sophie Bertrand, magazine Ciel Variable, chronique : La photographie documentaire

A post-documentary portrait project combining photography and video, Radioscopie du dormeur (Radiography of the Sleeper) offers a study of sleep and highlights individual or collective human behaviors during their nocturnal cycles. How does our body respond to the call of sleep? What are our “gestural habits”? How does our spatial and physical relationship with our partner manifest?

The photographic setup plays a significant part in the experience. Inspired by hunting cameras, three infrared cameras are mounted on a structure above the participants' beds.

The fabric prints amplify fragility, supporting the representation of beds, where the folds of the sheets intertwine with the movement of the fabric. Captions accompany the exhibition, unfolding as quotes (responses to the image of oneself sleeping, dreams, etc.). The video installation fast-forwards through the nocturnal life of selected participants, with some moments filmed in real time.

In exploring sleep, I seek to uncover the mystery of our nocturnal intimacies from an aesthetic, scientific, and social perspective.

  
View of the installation at the Carré du Théâtre de l’Hôtel de Ville during the Festival Are You Experiencing -
Un parcours photographique urbain/Le Havre-Sainte-Adresse, France, 2024 © Caroline Hayeur

Favouring the “invisibility of the camera”, I come backt in the morning to collect the pictures and moving images recorded during the night, and I then analyzed the data gathered. My approach fits within a type of collaborative documentary art, in this case aimed at surveying different “types” of sleepers. I’m deliberate standing back from a real-time process of picture taking challenges the new and multifaceted documentary strategies and proposes a re-evaluation of our relationship with the presence (or non-presence) of the photographer. Situated between art system and documentation, Radioscopie du dormeur navigates around the unclear borders where content and form combine and complement each other.

 
View of the installation 35 translucent fabrics and of the 5 mosaïcs on caneva, VOART Centre d’exposition de Val-d’Or,
événement Rendez-vous de la photographie à Val-d’Or, 2024 © Caroline Hayeur

Radioscopy of the Sleeper