The series Sleepwalker focuses on the darker emotions we feel, especially the ones that creep out at night. I am looking for that hallucinatory tension one feels between sleep and wakefulness.
As a child I always thought dreams were projections in your brain that would play like a movie on the back of your closed eyelids. Memories laced with bizarre and inexplicable details fueled my teenage imagination, challenging me to distinguish reality from the fiction. Ever since photography found me, I channeled those conversations with my subconscious into something cinematic.
I want my photographs to express a state of delirium, mysteries within and beyond the frame, dangers, delights, and superpowers. My models are photographed mostly after twilight, in dilapidated settings, or in locations as simple as their own bedrooms. I emphasize architecture, topography and situation, and incorporate unique lighting, whether from streetlamps, the moon, or unexpected flashes. I aim for macabre expression and choreography to evoke an almost paranormal or alien-esque storyline. I want to merge my attraction to the landscape with a sense of being stalked or haunted by the space you’re in. I hope to embrace the more fraught side of my psyche, and honor it, because even the challenging and upsetting feelings we have can be channeled and morphed into something beautiful.
About Zoe Vassiliou
Zoe Vassiliou is a Greek American photographer, currently living in New York. She began taking pictures at the age of 16 and won numerous awards, including several Scholastic Gold Keys for Photography and a National Gold Medal for Film. She was selected as a 2020 Young Arts Finalist in Photography, and received the award for Scholastic Excellence from The Panhellenic Scholarship Foundation. She has participated in several exhibitions. She is currently pursuing a degree in Art and Media Studies at Cornell University. [Official Website]
