Inspired by Lucien Freud’s drawings and paintings of his sleeping mother, I became interested in how sleep is a vulnerable state not unlike death. It is a frozen moment, a moment that we are not quite aware yet, we are not deceased. Sleep historically represents “still life” or “near death”. I indicate this figural pose in order to show great exposure. It is a highly personal moment, where we are absolutely powerless and at the whim of external forces.

I take this universal human experience and contrast it against the backdrop of a public arena, that being airports. This is an important contextualization that invites pause to consider our current cultural anxieties of terrorism, plane malfunctions, assault or any other potential heightened danger that exists on a daily basis. I see these perpetuated fears as a condition of modernity, in particular western society.

In using this imagery I am able to examine the boundary between public and private. Blurring this line allows us to appraise our own cultural and personal isolation, to look inward and feel our own disconnection and/or helplessness.