Project Description: Night Journey A photographic and sound installation project by Susan kae Grant The Night Journey project examines the perceptual and psychological aspects of the dream-state and provides pictorial access to the unconscious. The series consists of two complimentary forms; a suite of large-scale black & white photographs and a room-size installation with sound recordings. This on-going body of work represents a significant collaboration of artistic and scientific inquiry into the nature of REM sleep, dreams, memory and the unconscious. It raises universal questions among viewers and re-creates an unexplainable experience all humans share. Installation: The Night Journey installation re-creates the fragmented and multi sensorial experience of dreaming by combining large-scale photographic murals printed on chiffon fabric with audio recordings of quiet whispered phrases.

Installation Overview Detail, 36’x40’ The viewer journeys through the installation by passing between a “maze” of suspended translucent murals that sway and flow slightly with the motion created by the audience. The shadow gestures depicted in the murals suggest a fragmented narrative as they shift in and out of focus signifying the impermanent quality of the dream-state. The audio component is evocative and contextual and becomes more or less audible as the viewer proceeds through the space. The installation consists of an environment of 24, 4'x8' vertical murals that are suspended from the ceiling. These murals float in space one foot above the floor with ample space around them for physical movement. Their translucent quality creates a layered effect that moves and changes depending on the viewer’s position. Upon entering the space, a female voice whispers quietly from two small speakers located overhead. Two overlapping sound tracks run simultaneously on a continuous loop. The content contains actual phrases edited from dream recordings made in a sleep laboratory.

About the Photographic Prints & Murals: Using the shadow as metaphor, Grant photographs shadows of models and props in her Dallas studio using a 4x5 view camera with a digital Leaf back. The gestures and narratives she creates are inspired by sleep laboratory audio recordings, memory and journal sketches. Limited edition photographs are printed on Hahnemühle Fine Art Paper at 35” x 47” and the fabric murals are printed as 46” x 96’ dye sublimation prints and then heat-transferred onto chiffon.

Project History: Night Journey represents the culmination of seven years research gathered through REM sleep awakenings and interrogation sessions conducted by the artist in collaboration with noted sleep researcher Dr. John Herman. Their research focused on the fact that through REM sleep awakenings, the unconscious can-be brought into immediate and vivid consciousness. To access unconscious visual memory, the artist was digitally monitored while sleeping at the Southwestern Medical Center Sleep Laboratory, awakened from REM sleep, and then interrogated by trained technicians. The tapes of these narrative interviews collected in the sleep laboratory served as inspiration to create the murals, sound recordings and prints that are included in the series. Scheduled Exhibitions: The Night Journey project is available for scheduled exhibitions. For scheduling information, please contact Susan kae Grant (susan@susankaegrant.com) A chronological list of venues that have exhibited the Night Journey project include:

• The 5501 Columbia Art Center, Dallas, Texas • Gallery One, “Detroit Focus 2000”, Ann Arbor, Michigan • Houston Center for Photography, Houston, Texas • Houston Fotofest 2002: “Discoveries of the Meeting Place” • Women & Their Work Gallery, Austin, Texas • John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI • University Art Gallery, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM • The Light Factory, Charlotte, North Carolina • Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum, California State University San Bernardino • Galerie BMG, Woodstock, New York • Modernbook Gallery, Palo Alto, California • The Gallery at UT-Arlington, Arlington, Texas • The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, TX • Hallmark Contemporary Museum of Photo, Turners Falls, MA • Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas • Verve Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, New Mexico • Alan Avery Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia