An American photographer, Susan Kae
Grant received her MFA in Photography and Book Arts in 1979 from the University
of Wisconsin-Madison. Currently, she is the head of Photography and Book Arts
at Texas Woman’s University and as well teaches workshops annually at the
International Center for Photography. Grants investigates REM sleep, dreams,
memory and the unconscious within her on-going series, Night Journey. This series is a representation of the seven years
she spent doing research in collaboration with sleep scientist, Dr. John
Herman. On multiple occasions, Susan used herself as a subject at the
Southwestern Medical Center Sleep Laboratory to video and audio record herself
when awakened from REM sleep. Within the Night
Journey series, Susan uses these recordings to access unexplained moments
that lead to a mystifying representation of space between reality and illusion.
To create these dream-state images,
Grant photographs the shadows of models and props in her studio with a 4x5 view
camera with a digital leaf back. Some of these fabricated environments can take
up to three months to build, but in the end they become surrogates for what
once was. By playing with perspective, lighting, silhouettes and the
imagination, Susan Grant creates wonderful scenarios and brings in the viewers
into her dreams, memories, unconscious and nightmares only to have them wanting
more of the stories. As one can see with these tree images, the spotlight
aesthetic creates that dark and ominous ambience as it taps into fantasy and
imagination. Although the photographs look simple since they are only shadows
but the construction and execution is rather complex.
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Balance, #058
Chapter IV: Visions of
an Insomniac
2007-2010
44”x32” Giclée
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Nightingale, #073
Chapter V: Theatrical Realms of the Whimsical and Tragic
2010-2012
44”x32”, Archival Pigment Print
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Waiting for the Exact Moment to Respond, #009
Chapter II: Fragmented Questions
1999-200 |
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