Hardcover without dust jacket, as issued
ISBN:
9783791345215
Parasomnia operates as a surreal investigation into the subconscious and the complexities of her own displacement. Shot across West and East Africa, the project draws its title from the sleep disorder characterized by abnormal movements and dreams, blurring the boundaries between waking reality and the nocturnal imagination. Having spent her formative childhood years in Kenya, Sassen treats the landscape not as a traditional documentary subject, but as a psychological mirror. The work navigates her enduring sense of being both an insider and a permanent outsider, utilizing the continent as a vivid, enigmatic backdrop for exploring the fluid nature of memory, identity, and the subconscious.
Parasomnia occupies a pivotal position in her career, marking her definitive transition from fashion photography and localized art projects into globally recognized contemporary art photobooks. Published by Prestel shortly after her breakout publication Flamboya (2008), Parasomnia deepened and formalized the visual vocabulary that would come to define her mature oeuvre.
The book relies on Sassen’s signature disruption of the human form and her masterful command of high-contrast color. She continually obscures the faces and identities of her subjects through harsh, directional light, allowing deep, inky shadows to swallow physical details. This aggressive approach strips away traditional portraiture, transforming bodies and limbs into striking, anonymous geometric shapes that merge with the surrounding environment. By injecting sculptural props and performative, unnatural poses into everyday settings, she creates a visual syntax that constantly oscillates between intimate observation and highly staged, abstract theater.
Parasomnia operates as a surreal investigation into the subconscious and the complexities of her own displacement. Shot across West and East Africa, the project draws its title from the sleep disorder characterized by abnormal movements and dreams, blurring the boundaries between waking reality and the nocturnal imagination. Having spent her formative childhood years in Kenya, Sassen treats the landscape not as a traditional documentary subject, but as a psychological mirror. The work navigates her enduring sense of being both an insider and a permanent outsider, utilizing the continent as a vivid, enigmatic backdrop for exploring the fluid nature of memory, identity, and the subconscious.
Parasomnia occupies a pivotal position in her career, marking her definitive transition from fashion photography and localized art projects into globally recognized contemporary art photobooks. Published by Prestel shortly after her breakout publication Flamboya (2008), Parasomnia deepened and formalized the visual vocabulary that would come to define her mature oeuvre.
The book relies on Sassen’s signature disruption of the human form and her masterful command of high-contrast color. She continually obscures the faces and identities of her subjects through harsh, directional light, allowing deep, inky shadows to swallow physical details. This aggressive approach strips away traditional portraiture, transforming bodies and limbs into striking, anonymous geometric shapes that merge with the surrounding environment. By injecting sculptural props and performative, unnatural poses into everyday settings, she creates a visual syntax that constantly oscillates between intimate observation and highly staged, abstract theater.
Parasomnia operates as a surreal investigation into the subconscious and the complexities of her own displacement. Shot across West and East Africa, the project draws its title from the sleep disorder characterized by abnormal movements and dreams, blurring the boundaries between waking reality and the nocturnal imagination. Having spent her formative childhood years in Kenya, Sassen treats the landscape not as a traditional documentary subject, but as a psychological mirror. The work navigates her enduring sense of being both an insider and a permanent outsider, utilizing the continent as a vivid, enigmatic backdrop for exploring the fluid nature of memory, identity, and the subconscious.
Parasomnia occupies a pivotal position in her career, marking her definitive transition from fashion photography and localized art projects into globally recognized contemporary art photobooks. Published by Prestel shortly after her breakout publication Flamboya (2008), Parasomnia deepened and formalized the visual vocabulary that would come to define her mature oeuvre.
The book relies on Sassen’s signature disruption of the human form and her masterful command of high-contrast color. She continually obscures the faces and identities of her subjects through harsh, directional light, allowing deep, inky shadows to swallow physical details. This aggressive approach strips away traditional portraiture, transforming bodies and limbs into striking, anonymous geometric shapes that merge with the surrounding environment. By injecting sculptural props and performative, unnatural poses into everyday settings, she creates a visual syntax that constantly oscillates between intimate observation and highly staged, abstract theater.