Dan Wood

"The term 'hypnagogia' refers to the transitional period between wakefulness and sleep, and it’s this period where I find that unwelcome visions often enter my head, causing anxiety and insomnia.
“Transition to and from sleep may be attended by a wide variety of sensory experiences. These can occur in any modality, individually or combined, and range from the vague and barely perceptible to vivid hallucinations”
Inspired by fear, horror films, black metal music, ancient folklore and the possibility of extra-terrestrial life, this series has led me on a journey into my own psyche.
’Hypnagogia’ is a series of darkroom printed, black and white photographs that I’ve slowly been piecing together into a cohesive set over the past 2 years.
A significant departure from recent work, the photographs themselves mostly predict a post-apocalyptic world but also presumed visions of hell and the after life; prompting the question “what happens after death?’
Making this series has forced me to face the darkness and obscurity, but also question my own mortality. The series has sometimes felt like a therapy session and has helped relieve my over active imagination, and lessen the load that I sometimes carry."
Becoming a parent for the first time and the responsibility that comes with it was massive inspiration for the series, too, and I suppose a lot of my anxieties were brought on by parenthood itself. Open water, especially the sea, scares me, even though I’ve never had a bad experience involving water. It must come from a horror movie called Shock Waves which I saw when I was quite young; I remember that being pretty disturbing. 'Lone figures' in the landscape is something that has always made me feel some unease too, although I have no idea of the origins of this particular fear, even though it’s something that has been there since a young age...

• Dan Wood