In this set, entitled Traveling Dream by Angela Bacon-Kidwell, it’s hard to tell whether the scenes take place in a strange dream or a creepy nightmare. All of her photographs are undeniably beautiful, yet they are all eerily haunting at the same time. “My photography comes from a life long obsession of exploring how my subconscious generates my dreams,” she says. “As I move through my day, I am keenly aware of my encounters with people, places and things. I mentally record the details of these situations and the physical or emotional responses that they evoke. “These fleeting associations replay themselves in my dreams. The random moments combine to form sleep stories that are rich narratives, ripe with symbolism. With that as my model, I construct sets, use props and invite myself and models to perform in a natural, intuitive way. In essence, I attempt to create a waking dream. “In the series, Traveling Dream, I’m not illustrating a specific story, but creating unresolved moments from which the viewer must imagine a beginning and end. In this way, my images can become personal, each viewer lost in their own dream story within mine.”
