The Book of Dreams

"The Book of Dreams" project was a collaborative venture between me and participants who agree to record their dreams via pinhole and written text. Each person was instructed on how to use the pinhole camera – the most basic and low tech form of camera that exists – and each person offered up an expertise that they have been born with: the ability to recall the hallucinatory images experienced during sleep. The process was fairly straightforward and accessible: each participant took home my pinhole camera and set it up with the aperture facing their bed as per my instructions outlined in the back flap of the journal. Before tucking in for the night’s sleep, the pinhole shutter was opened and the lights turned off. The person then went to sleep and dreamt. Upon waking, the shutter was closed and the participant recorded the contents of what was dreamed during the 8 to 9 hour exposure. As a book of dream recordings, the journal has the interesting function of acting as an archive of the people whose dreams are inside and an intimate story book that each contributor had the opportunity to read before adding their own entry. "The Book of Dreams" is related to process, performance, and an attempt to translate the ephemeral experience of a dream into a tangible document through photography and writing.