Yet Untitled 057 - Responding to A Gift of Sleep
A gallery curated around slumber
Dearest Yet Untitler,
I’m hurtling toward the shoot of a series for Amazon Prime. 8 episodes, 8 weeks of shoot, utter chaos.
A year ago, a friend of mine was in the same place. He was hurtling towards directing his own show. 8 episodes. Many weeks of shoot. Utter chaos. Now - I had been a consultant on his show, so I had a ringside view to his chaos. Because he and I are such good friends, we spoke often even while he had been hurtling. I swam vicariously in his chaos.
Today, a year later, I watched all eight episodes of his show in their final form. I was pleased. From all that chaos, something good had emerged! Suddenly, my own chaos worried me less.
I felt as if many sleepless nights that seemed to be my lot were not my lot anymore.
This week, I’d like to ride the crest of this feeling and regale you with a gallery curated around sleep, something that I found I’ve photographed a lot. I seem to be drawn to the idea of sleep itself - especially the idea of Death being a bit like Sleep - where life refreshes itself so that it can have another go at life, prolifically discussed in Daisaku Ikeda’s book Unlocking the Mysteries of Birth and Death.
Enjoy the show!
My dad liked his naps. He could drop off anytime, anywhere. He had a particular habit of doing this while on social rounds or when he had guests over. They got used to it. Eventually.
I’ve watched my parents sleep a lot. When I was growing up, in a pre-Netflix world, I’d say sleep made up more of our lives. The warm summer afternoons used to be about sleep that got you through the hottest part of the day - a sleep pervaded by the smell of desert coolers and the awareness of geckos lurking in cool shadows. The cold afternoons were about a different kind of sleep. Deeper. Secure in the dark world under a quilt, the body seemingly surviving on something other than oxygen.
I’ve also watched my mother’s sisters sleep a lot. When I see them sleeping, I think about how they all smell the same as my mother. As a child, this made them all interchangeable with each other when it came to minding me. I could easily fall asleep next to any of them.
Between Vani and I, our sleep patterns are so different that I think - cumulatively - it qualifies as significant ‘time apart’ over the years that we have known each other. The quiet night hours after I have knocked off are her time. The quiet mornings when it’s still hours before she wakes are mine. Writing this down, I appreciate more and more that both she and I have had either.
My mom, for as long as I can remember, has slept with an arm over her eyes. Watching her having done this all her life, I’ve come to associate any visual representation of sleep with some sort of pyramid hovering over a face, as you see below.
This below is my favorite photograph of someone sleeping. I took this photograph of my nephews long before I became a father, but I often think of this picture when I take photos of my kids sleeping…
…of which I have tonnes! Cannot help but reference that banal but oddly beautiful song by Michael Learns to Rock here.
I also have numerous photos of Vani sleeping, which she hates!
Oh what the hell, here’s another!
On most days, I struggle to make the sleep quota that the Apple-verse determines for me, but I get strange kicks out of pursuing it.
A friend and reader who’s a chef had once told me about his time as a trainee when he had functioned on 3-4 hours of sleep for an extended period and how the body just needed time to recognize that this was its normal sleep-wake pattern.
I knew him in this early youth. I believe he caught up on all the sleep he needed early in life.
Lastly - I’m under no illusion that in the coming months of shoot, I will struggle for sleep. But after it is all done, I will find my sunny patch of grass somewhere, and sleep for a long long time.
Thanks for reading and looking.
Lots of love
V
Do you have a way to get the sleep you need when you want it? Tell me your spells! I’d love to hear from you!
Good luck with your shoot. It sounds exciting.
Wishing you a roaring success in your new venture! Loved all the photos of loved ones ! Didn’t fall asleep reading !❤️