Dreams are so personal and yet we see patterns of dream that span individuals, peoples and even across cultures. I believe powerful dreams come from the collective space of humanity and we can recognize ourselves and each other in these recurring dreams.
Liminal Space: Where the Conscious and Unconscious Meet To Dance is a fine art portrait series of digital photo montages that are based on my own dreams and those of my ‘archetypal collaborators’ in this process. My subjects, including myself, are women in the cycle of menopause. This is a complicated time in a woman’s life, much akin to the transformational phase of puberty. There is often a sense of loss and grief, yet it is also a time of renewal, transformation, joy and a sense of coming into oneself. It is the time of a powerful internal journey, but it is also a time when a woman’s space in society diminishes. It is said that “as a woman ages she becomes invisible.” To focus my lens on women of this age is to give space and voice to a potent time of life, one that is often overlooked and undervalued in a society that treasures youth and beauty.
These are not works of fantasy, but an exploration of our other-conscious dreams that are invited into the world through the process of photographic montage. The associated poems* honor the dreamers who collaborated with me on this project, and the dreams that connect us all.