The work depicts a line of people in a semi-mediative state. Each of the subjects was asked to close their eyes and concentrate on their breathing, in through the nose out through the mouth. I then took the photo at a moment unknown to the subject.
The concept behind this work is two-fold:
Firstly the work aims to strip the verb from portraiture. To draw the viewer in with the lack of action or eye contact as you would see in most portraiture. The fact that the subjects are as close to rest as you can be (without being dead or asleep) creates an uneasy feeling for the viewer. They are unaware of why they are looking at the image but it is nonetheless striking.
Secondly, it is my first attempt to photograph the unconscious. The breathing exercise the subjects are undertaking is a step into meditation which involves entering the unconscious part of the mind, freeing oneself from the conscious. The subjects despite being of differing race, sex, size and shape somehow take on a commonality in this position. I would like to think that this is the collective unconscious rising to the surface