An Unconscious Dialogue

Julia is a model who suffers from narcolepsy and Kleine-Levin syndrome (KLS), an ultra-rare sleep disorder, which vastly affect cognition, daily events and perception of time and place. Translating aspects of these conditions meant shooting around, and sometimes during, sleep attacks of varying degrees. The line between awake and asleep is wildly unclear in these moments. As emotional and sometimes scary as these states can be, it was important to frame them with power, beauty and vulnerability. Julia doesn’t give up on life; she is not defeated by it. She shows the strength of the human spirit – pushing through and overcoming massive obstacles. Structural compositions and bold lighting explore the power relationship between environment and subject, which can often be a distortion of stress in altered states. Each B&W shot foregoes the distractions of color and hones in on these visual pillars, while also functioning as conceptual pieces of a greater whole in 'Spectrum'.