A Long History Of Dark Sleep: Anxiety and insomnia self-portraits during the pandemic of COVID-19

A Long History Of Dark Sleep: Anxiety and insomnia self-portraits photographed during the pandemic of COVID-19 In this time of COVID-19, I sleep alone but fear is my lover. We embrace fretfully and stare at the ceiling. At this late hour, there is no one to call, all the lines are dead and the buses have stopped running. The camera comes to bed with me and a flashlight is my light source. This is my chance to record anxiety, to photograph the noir that surrounds me, and come face to face with my potential demise. Or perhaps I’ll find some truth and maybe even beauty in the dead of night. I have never liked being photographed. A series based on self-portraits could not have happened until this moment in time. Coming face to face with potential death carried on the breeze by an invisible agent has the power to propel me to self-examination in spite of distress. My aim is fretful, the focus unsteady. It’s all about chance, isn’t it, what the lens captures, who gets the virus. Honors: • Four images from this series shortlisted for the Royal Photographic Society International Photography Exhibition 164 • COVID-19.38 included in the book and exhibit #ICP CONCERNED: Global Images for Global Crisis. Published by the International Center Of Photography • Silver Award in the People/Self Portrait category of the Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA) 2020 for A Long History Of Dark Sleep. • GOLD Award in the People-Self Portrait category and a SILVER Award in the Fine Art Portrait category (Non-Professional) of the Budapest International Foto Awards (BIFA) 2020 for selections from A Long History Of Dark Sleep. • Gold Award, San Francisco Bay Area Month of Photography for COVID-19.06 • Eight images from this series received an Honorable Mention in the Fine Art Portrait Category Moscow International Foto Awards (MIFA) 2020 • Selected as a feature photographer for the SIX FEET PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT that is documenting the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. https://sixfeet.photography/featured-photographers-blog/diane-fenster • Selections from this series were chosen to appear in ALL ABOUT PHOTO Magazine’s Black and White issue • Represent: New Portraiture National Juried Exhibition at the Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY. Juror, Hannah Turpin, Curatorial Assistant for Modern and Contemporary Art and Photography at the Carnegie Museum of Art selected COVID-19.25 for inclusion. • COVID-19.06 included in FLOAT Magazine’s BEST OF QUARANTINE https://www.floatmagazine.us/online-exhibitions/exhibitions/best-of-quarantine • COVID-19.06 included in the 6th Annual Davis Orton Gallery Group Show • COVID-19.16 included in the MONOCHROME exhibit at Glasgow Gallery of Photography, Glasgow, Scotland • https://www.instagram.com/covidpictures/ included COVID-19.06 as part of their survey of pandemic images • COVID-19.17, included in the online exhibition of the Griffin Museum’s 26th juried members’ exhibit • Inclusion in the online exhibit INTERNAL DIALOGUE. Jurors Michael Kirchoff and Fran Forman selected COVID-19.06 for inclusion. Blue Mitchell and One Twelve Publishing is hosting the online exhibit at https://onetwelvepublishing.com/internal-dialogue. • PhotoPlace Gallery’s joint exhibition, “Portraits of Self-Isolation” and “Life in the Time of COVID-19” selected Covid-19.16 for permanent display in the Online Gallery. • COVID-19.12 included in ISOLATION IN THE AGE OF PANDEMIC with A Jury of Your Peers May 15 – July 4, 2020 at Lightbox Photographic Gallery, Astoria, OR.