Like Someone Alive

Dorothy Sing Zhang unveils a compelling portrayal of humanity’s vulnerable state during sleep. The scene is set in the bedrooms of others. One is asked to be asleep, a squeeze cable release is placed under the pillow. The chance of one’s unconscious body rolling over and triggering the camera results in an exposure. Like Someone Alive expands these boundaries by withdrawing the traditional relationships between the photographer, the object and the camera. “About five years ago I was trying to realise a way where the approach towards the trigger would somehow be directly reflected in the image. How can the pressure craft the physicality upon the trigger that generates the exposure. I had this old exercise pull up bar. I would physically pull myself up while squeezing the cable release to make an image. A step further was to somehow dismiss the awareness of the approach, so sleep became the plot but photography is the story. ”