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Rethink

In collaberation withGaller Imageand the 2017 Capital of Culturewe represent this lookbook of art worksfrom the talented artistNicholas Bruno

Enjoy the sneak peak,and come see the full excibition on Febuary 25th 2017 at Galleri Image

Nicholas Bruno - The Sleepless Photagrapher Meet Nicolas Bruno, a photographer who suffers from sleep paralysis and rec- reates his terrifying nightly hallucinations in haunting photography. Bruno takes us through his process, showing exactly how he’s been able to battle insomnia with art.SURRELART

A portrait of a dreamer November 2016 HelloSleep paralysis may seem like a Surrealist metaphor, but it’s a very real health conditionthat affects roughly 8 percent of the population. It renders people who are on the brink ofwakefulness — either falling asleep or waking up — temporarily unable to move or react,often while experiencing terrifying and vivid hallucinations.After struggling with the disorder throughout his life, photographer Nicolas Bruno decidedto incorporate it into his work.“Sleep paralysis is a daunting condition,” Bruno told The Huffington Post. “Your consciousmind begins to go into a panic, which induces terrifying visuals that often engage with thesufferer, such as looming dark figures or heavy pressures on one’s chest.”Sleep paralysis is a wonky byproduct of healthy brain functionality, suggests science writ-er Sam Kean, who has authored a book on the quirks of neuroscience. He writes that thecondition is related to miscommunication among the three main parts of the brain: the“reptilian” brain that controls basic functions like heart rate, the “mammalian” brain thatprocesses sense and memory, and the “primate” brain, which controls decision-making andcomplex thought.While these parts usually work together just fine, communication can get mixed up, caus-ing strange conditions like sleep paralysis. Basically, when your mind “wakes up” during adream but your body remains physically immobile, it creates a perfect storm for hallucina-tions. There’s a dissociation between the activity of the brain and the physical stillness ofREM sleep, one sleep study explains.The disorder has been linked to traumatic life incidents, anxiety and depression. A 2011analysis of sleep paralysis research indicates that psychiatric patients with panic disordersare most likely to suffer from the condition.Doctors have not standardized a treatment for the condition, but some coping strategiesinclude adopting a regular sleep schedule and learning behavioral techniques to stay calmor dissociate yourself from a hallucination. www.nicolasbrunophotography.com



DREAM LAND The scenery always seems to compliment your subject matter very well. Does the concept come first and then you choose the perfect location, or do you find the location first and build the concept around it? In my brain, the search for scenery is on autopilot at every moment. I am more quick to assign a concept to the list of locations that I have in the back of my mind or in my notebook, although it is not always the case. Exploring is a major component to my process and at times I will be so awestruck the a discovery of a landscape that I begin to spawn new concepts that derive from past experiences and properly suit my new found scen- ery. 8.Perhaps a touchy subject for some photographers, how do you feel about digital manipulation and post pro- cessing to help photographers achieve these surreal images? Is it cheating because it didn’t come straight from the camera? Digital manipulation is a wonderful tool in moder- ation. My philosophy to post production is that everything that you are using to create your image must happen in front of the camera, not pulled off of the internet or an image search engine. I strategically shoot my images on a tripod and often will duplicate props by placing them in different areas and shooting separate pictures of them, then weaving them together in post. I am not opposed to this tool, because I would not be able to express some of the ideas that I have created without this process.

Art in Sleep Paralysis“Sleep paralysis has been an ongo-ing occurrence for me ever since theage of 15,’’ explains the 21-yearsold American photographer Nico-las Bruno in a recent interview withYatzer. ‘’I have experienced bonechilling hallucinations and extremeterror during these dreams: facelesssilhouetted figures, embraces fromshadow-like hands, the warping ofreality around me - all the while be-ing completely paralyzed in the midstof being awake and sleeping.”





“…... essentially dreaming while awake.”

Thank you for watching . ... and come RETHINK your nightmares as they come to lifeAll rights reseved Ditte Højberg Jensen - and remember this is all made up