Light Sleepers

Light Sleepers is about my periodic struggles with insomnia. It consists of a prison camp diorama, a setting inhabited by multiple selves who are trapped, forced to rehash persistent thoughts and unpleasant memories, all projected on a giant drive-in theater screen. I know that Prison Camps have a specific association with  the Trump administration and their blunt immigration policy, but they have been used throughout history by so many to contain and demoralize their occupants. To me, they seemed an apt metaphor for inescapable thought patterns. Whenever I get stuck in a moat, it’s often after having 2 or 3 hours of restful sleep. I awaken in a dark room, almost without definition. It’s quiet in the house, there’s not much sensory data, which is the ideal setting for rumination. A flattened, featureless desert seemed to be the closest comparison. Thoughts then flood my brain in quick succession, before my eyes can adjust. It’s almost impossible to distract myself free from their attraction.