‘Sleepless’ consists of a series of portraits of people who for some reason sleep very little. I was interested in looking at lack of sleep as a phenomenon, without limiting it to a specific reason, and I set as the selection criteria that the people portrayed sleep under four hours per day, even if it is only temporarily. I interviewed the participants first and together we decided a place where I would photograph them in relation to their own particular story.
‘Sleepless’ is the first part of a trilogy that aims to question what it is to be human, by exploring issues of identity in relation to health and disease, ‘lack’ as a corporeal condition and the imaginary around the body and its control. One of the main challenges of this trilogy is to visually explore aspects of the human condition that are invisible. The motivation is to look into vital experiences that somehow transgress the notion of a ‘normal’ human subject (established and defined by social norms through scientific/cultural discourse) in order to challenge conventional understandings of the human being.
Laura Cuch is a documentary and fine art photographer. She completed an MA in Photography and Urban Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London in 2006 and is currently a visiting tutor at the same course as well as a visiting researcher in the Anthropology department in Goldsmiths. She has exhibited internationally at Descubrimientos - PhotoEspaña 09, Centro Cultural Blanquerna, Arts Santa Mònica, H2O Gallery, Sala d’Art Jove, Talent Latent/Scan09 and Emergent09. She has also taken part in group shows in London at the Rich Mix, Photofusion, The Viewfinder Gallery and City University. Her work has been published in Le Monde, Barcelona Metròpolis, El Súmmum, London Independent Photography and Street Signs.
All images ©Laura Cuch
