A post-documentary project combining photography and video, Radioscopie du dormeur [Radioscopy of the Sleeper] examines the mechanisms of sleep and highlights human individual or collective behaviour during different nighttime cycles. How does our body respond to the need for sleep? What “gestural habits” do we exhibit during these phases? How do these apply to the spatial and physical relationships we have with those who share our bed?

Corporeal rituals, night, primal emotions, revealed intimacy, encounter and movement are recurrent subjects in Carolyne Hayeur’s practice. Through her new reflection around the notion of sleep, Hayeur takes an esthetic, scientific, and social approach to tapping into the mystery of our private nocturnal worlds. 

“Bodies entwined under crumpled sheets, shapes modulated by blankets – people caught in outright abandon are delivered to the camera, the only witness to their slumbering state. A few, some still asleep, some awake, cast a furtive glance into the darkness, pupils dilated by the shadows. What time is it? Time is frozen until one of the sensors placed above the bed detects movement and records the instant.” – Sophie Bertrand 

Town quay, 10th Rencontre photographique du Kamouraska, 2021 © Caroline Hayeur

The first part of Radioscopie du dormeur was realized during an artist residency in the region of Kamouraska, Québec, in collaboration with regional residents. Thanks to the use of an infrared camera and motion detector (normally used for hunting), the photographer’s presence is not required, therefore allowing intimacy to return and nocturnal life to unfold like a poem.

Video projection on the grounds of the Centre d’art de Kamouraska, 2021 © Caroline Hayeur

“An installation at the Kamouraska quay comprised of several large-format images of sleepers, which the tide reveals and then conceals, or envelops. At the entrance to the Centre d’art de Kamouraska, a ghost-like projection appears: entire nights are condensed into a minute and particles of dust. Together, the photographs and looped video movingly reminds us that our sleeping lives are both gentle and complex, that they are repetitious and regenerating.” – Ève Cadieux, curator of the 10^th Rencontre photographique de Kamouraska

 
Town quay, 10th Rencontre photographique du Kamouraska, 2021 © Caroline Hayeur