Hypnagogia and art

Hypnagogia is the experience of the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep in
humans: the hypnagogic state of consciousness, during the onset of sleep. A hypnagogic
hallucination is a vivid, dream-like sensation that an individual hears, sees, feels or even
smells and that occurs near the onset of sleep.The phenomena that occur during this
“threshold consciousness” phase include lucid thought, lucid dreaming, hallucinations, and
sleep paralysis.

The medical definition of sleep paralysis is a frightening form of paralysis that occurs when
a person suddenly finds himself or herself unable to move for a few minutes, most often
upon falling asleep or waking up. This has also been linked to lucid dreaming which is
defined as a dream during which dreamers, while dreaming, are aware they are dreaming.

Clearly, an episode of sleep paralysis can be scary, which has led to some wild theories.
People in countries as diverse as China, East Africa, Mexico, Newfoundland, and the
United States have long believed that sleep paralysis is caused by demons, witches, or
other supernatural creatures sitting on their chests and
sometimes trying to have sex with them.
Deborah bell
This is what I am here for (Breathe
through me)
Mixed media on paper

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st=1565983347499026

THEMBA KHUMALO
JOHANNESBURG
CHARCOAL ON PAPER

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Definition
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Swing girl
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liminality-its-celebration-of-the-cycles-of-
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CHOSEN ARTISTS: Sources
-
Mary Sibande https://oxfordmedicine.com/view/10.1093/med/
9780199313808.001.0001/med-
Deborah Bell 9780199313808-chapter-3
Thembi Khumalo
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_hag

-
https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.as
p?articlekey=9806

-
http://sleepeducation.org/news/2009/07/29/slee
p-paralysis-the-devil-the-ghost-the-oldhag-

-
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323077
.php

-https://www.nopanic.org.uk/hypnagogia/

-https://www.everard-
read.co.za/artist/DEBORAH_BELL/works/756

-https://www.artvark.org/themba-khumalo

The Nightmare -
Henry Fuseli
Oil on canvas

Artwork 2

The night hag or old hag is probably one of the most popular myths, this is the name given
to a supernatural creature, often used as an explanation to sleep paralysis.This would be
when a person feels a presence of a supernatural malevolent being which immobilises the
person (sleep paralysis) as if sitting on his/her chest or the foot of his/her bed. The word
"night-mare" or "nightmare" was used to describe this phenomenon before the word
acquired its modern, more general meaning. Different cultures do have many different
names for the “old hag”. Some asian culture believe that the immobilisation is caused by a
ghost holding the person sleeping down

The phenomenon of sleep paralysis inspired artists such as Swiss painter Henry Fuseli
(1741-1825) who was most famous for his 1781 oil painting called The Nightmare. It
shows a woman in deep sleep with her arms thrown below her, and with a demonic and
apelike incubus crouched on her chest.

THEMBA KHUMALO
Themba Khumalo was born Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa. Khumalo explores
different mediums, such as charcoal drawings and painting. He has been involved in a
number of group exhibitions, commissions and special projects, such as painting murals in
the Eastern Cape and being invited to exhibit in a group show at Isolate del Cinema
festival in Rome, Italy.

Khumalo's work engages with issues that one faces in the dynamic and temperamental
city of Johannesburg; the beauty as well as the challenges encountered on a daily basis.
He uses techniques such as etching, drypoint, and monoprint as they allow him to achieve
strong, intense line, different effects, and textures. He can also accepts mistakes, which to
him represent the imitation of life, the fact you can not predict what is going to happen
tomorrow.

Khumalo’s concept is based on my relationships with people. In his work he explores

feelings of connectivity and isolation. Khumalo’s attempt is to build trust and closer
associations with others through his artwork.

There are never human figures in the images. However, electric poles, plugs, and cables
are the subjects of all the works. These are metaphors for life, energy and movement. The
subjects are seen in different contexts, all outside, in a city or landscape. This provides the
context. The atmosphere is created by the sky.

MARY SIBANDE
Mary Sibande - a sculptor, photographer, and visual artist based in Johannesburg - is
interested primarily in questions of the body and how to reclaim the black female body in
post-colonial and post-apartheid South Africa.

She often works through an alter-ego, Sophie, a sculptural figure who traverses the uncanny
valleys of liminal space. Sophie is personal. Her face is modeled largely after Sibande, and
she draws on the history of the women in her family who worked as maids throughout the
apartheid and post-apartheid eras.

But Sophie is also symbolic, a figure that stands in to speak for femininity, blackness, labour,
post-coloniality, and communities on the margin as a whole. She moves in between history
and contemporary life. Sophie bears the weight of centuries-old colonial narratives
attempting to Other the African woman. At the same time, Sophie’s dress, the familiar bright
blue of contemporary domestic uniforms, reminds us of the kinds of subjugation that lingers
in our society.
MARY SIBANDE
THE REIGN
MIXED MEDEA SCULPTURE

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&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=ima
ges&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjUts3Fz
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%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2F
world%2F2014%2Fjan%2F07%
2Fmary-sibande-south-africa-
art&psig=AOvVaw0oEIfi61IUDn
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77349&ictx=3&uact=3