Jasmine Crisp, If asleep I could only adore 1, 2022, Oil on wood panel. Courtesy: The artist and the gallery.

There is still so much left unknown about why we sleep, despite a long history of scientific and spiritual investigations. If asleep I could only adore is a series by Jasmine Crisp designed as a personal investigation into sleep, focusing specifically on the act of viewing an asleep figure, and how this can evoke strong feelings of closeness, vulnerability, hilarity, disturbance and love. In an attempt to select a ‘sample size’ for her study, Crisp released a public call-out for imagery requesting photos that had been taken ‘sneakily’ of fellow loved ones asleep (both parties consenting to the image’s use). A small selection of the extensive collection of (unknowingly captured) friends, strangers and acquaintances have been ruminated on and crafted into a series of intimate paintings that aim to highlight the extramundane in our universally shared experiences of sleep, and witnessing of sleep.

Opening Event: Friday 18 November 6-8pm.