Zimonyi Gwendolin
Fashion and Textile Design MA
masterwork
The connection between waking and sleeping consciousness
Sleep Paralysis
The topic of my masterwork is the connection between the waking consciousness and the sleeping body, which I explore through the phases of sleep paralysis and the impact they have. My goal is to draw attention to the essence of sleep paralysis. Using my own experiences, I illustrate the connection between the paralysed, helpless body and the conscious mind. The end result is a pattern collection based on the contrast between the paralysed body and the wakeful mind. The textiles executed in the material world would reflect the paralysed body, juxtaposed with the vibrancy of the mind, which exists only in the digital world as a moving and auditory visual projection (animated illustration).
thesis
The link between consciousness in wakefulness and sleep
The subject of my thesis is sleep paralysis or REM sleep atonia. My goal is to provide a comprehensive overview and analysis of this phenomenon via rational and physiological explanations and cultural examples. I examined paralysis through examples and artistic depictions of it. Building on my own lived experience and the impact it has had on my artistic perspective, I describe the journey from recognising and understanding the phenomenon, to finding a resolution and achieving lucid dreaming.
