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I’m Sleeping at Sullivan Galleries Chicago
I’m Sleeping, 2018
Video Projection Installation, 9 Min
‘I’m Sleeping’ is a video projection installation that explores the emotional distance between a mother and daughter, mediated by a smartphone. The piece originated from a pattern I noticed after moving to Chicago, where I would respond to my mother’s messages with “I’m Sleeping” as a way to deflect the love and concern I felt overwhelmed by. This phrase became a tool for avoidance, mirroring the phone’s own language of delay, such as the "Snooze" function, which reflects my attempts to postpone emotional engagement.
The installation plays with pacing and rhythm to dissolve any sense of linearity, creating an erratic, disjointed experience that mimics the overwhelming emotional disconnect I felt. The text "I’m Sad" and "I’m Lonely" are typed out and deleted, replaced by "I’m Sleeping," visualizing my internal contradictions and evasions. This layering of text and imagery conveys how I would mask feelings of isolation and sadness with the façade of fatigue, reflecting the complexity of my responses and reconsiderations during moments of emotional retreat.
GRADUATE SAIC TEAM: Stephen Farrell, BJ Krivanek, Luna Goldberg, Anthony Elms
ARTIST ADVISORS: Bob Faust, Dylan Gillah
DONE AT: Art Institute of Chicago
ROLE: Artist
MEDIUM: Digital, Gallery
LINKS: Part of Davidson College’s Van Every/Smith Gallery’s permanent collection