A Long History of Dark Sleep:

• Photographer
  Diane Fenster

Anxiety and insomnia self-portraits. During the Covid-19 pandemic, I sleep alone, but fear is my lover. We embrace fretfully and stare at the ceiling. At this late hour, it is my chance to photograph the noir that surrounds me and find some truth and perhaps beauty in the dead of night. The camera comes to bed with me and a flashlight is my light-source. Coming face to face with potential death propels 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.

I am a self-taught photographer exhibiting since 1990. My work first received notice during the era of early experimentations with digital imaging. I view myself as an alchemist, using alternative process, antique photographic methods, toy camera and digital tools to delve into fundamental human issues. My work is literary and emotional, full of symbolism and multiple layers of meaning with a style that marries photography with evocative and fragmented imagery.