Where do we go and what do we do when we sleep? There is plenty of activity and sensations to document. And what of the space where #SleepLife happens, how do they change? This is one such document, of a space in Accrington that needs a new #SleepLife, and quietly suffered a temporary interregnum. It’s old one has ended.
An A4 photocopy of a pencil sketch of the Photocopier’s mother’s gardening shoes (which were moved to the bedroom from the hallway). And the wooden cabinet containing the antique cistern that heated the water for the Photocopier’s baths. The Photocopier has almost primal childhood memory of lowering himself into the bath at his parent’s house. And the attendant feeling of comfort the first few minutes of the bath gave him. Over time it became a ritual to immediately have a bath on returning to the family home. The drawing is in the Photocopier’s notebook of his nocturnal experiences whilst sleeping in his late mother’s bedroom, over Christmas and New Year 2019-20.
An A4 photocopy of a sketch of the Photocopier’s mother’s make up bag (a tabby cat) sat atop a sheesham wood box (containing nothing) and in frot of a small pot cat ornament fixed to the wall, above an oak chest of drawers. The notes in felt tip refer to the photocopier’s fascination with the classical motif on his mother’s jewellery boxes. The drawing is in the Photocopier’s notebook of his nocturnal experiences whilst sleeping in his late mother’s bedroom, over Christmas and New Year 2019-20.
An A4 photocopy of a pencil sketch of the ornaments and jewellery boxes to be found in the Photocopier’s mother’s bedroom. The swan vase was originally his aunt Marion’s (from the Bury branch of the family, long deceased) which, along with a similarly highly glazed vase depicting a highwayman, fascinated the Photocopier as a small child on trips to Bury. The pot jewellery box, with a relief showing some scene from classical myth (made in the East Midlands) were some of the longest standing items in his mother’s bedroom, being there from the early 1970s. The Photocopier had issues drawing this freehand. The drawing is in the Photocopier’s notebook of his nocturnal experiences whilst sleeping in his late mother’s bedroom, over Christmas and New Year 2019-20.
An A4 photocopy of a quick sketch of the Photocopier’s mother’s bedroom with some cursory notes in felt tip. The drawing is in the Photocopier’s notebook of his nocturnal experiences whilst sleeping in his late mother’s bedroom, over Christmas and New Year 2019-20.
An A4 photocopy of a quick pencil sketch of the bathroom door (with Staffordshire porcelain handle) and a highly glazed ceramic seal from the Gema ceramic company (which the Photocopier’s mother had a soft spot for). These two elements were the first thing that somehowcame to mind when trying to focus on the nocturnal bathroom visits. The drawing is in the Photocopier’s notebook of his nocturnal experiences whilst sleeping in his late mother’s bedroom, over Christmas and New Year 2019-20.
Where do we go and what do we do when we sleep? There is plenty of activity and sensations to document. And what of the space where #SleepLife happens, how do they change? This is one such document, of a space in Accrington that needs a new #SleepLife, and quietly suffered a temporary interregnum. It’s old one has ended.
An A4 photocopy of a pencil sketch from a Polish film poster that somehow mutated into a bored – and aborted – take on TE Lawrence. One of the first drawings made after his mother’s death, the drawing is in the Photocopier’s notebook of his nocturnal experiences whilst sleeping in his late mother’s bedroom, over Christmas and New Year 2019-20.
An A4 photocopy of a pencil sketch of a pot ornament made by the Photocopier’s brother at infants school that was given to his mother. Indestructible and inscrutable, the glazed clay ornament – depicting a bird it according to family legend – has never left the window sill of his parents’ bedroom. The notes in pen document the time of death of the Photocopier’s mother, amongst other sensations and observations. The drawing is in the Photocopier’s notebook of his nocturnal experiences whilst sleeping in his late mother’s bedroom, over Christmas and New Year 2019-20.
n A4 photocopy of a quick pencil sketch of the Photocopier’s mother’s bedside table (with wood-based lamp and the Photocopier’s personal effects strewn loosely upon it) and a battered Roberts digital radio. The radio was notorious in being too loud. The Photocopier’s late mother, who was an insomniac, would play the BBC World Service at high volume throughout the night, often to everyone else’s irritation. The drawing is in the Photocopier’s notebook of his nocturnal experiences whilst sleeping in his late mother’s bedroom, over Christmas and New Year 2019-20.
An A4 photocopy of the Photocopier’s notes in felt tip. The photocopy that is pasted in the bottom right hand corner is from Wyndham-Lewis’s Vorticist Manifesto, “Blast” (1914). The drawing is in the Photocopier’s notebook of his nocturnal experiences whilst sleeping in his late mother’s bedroom, over Christmas and New Year 2019-20.
