Sophie Calle

Sophie Calle’s work shows a detachment form the normally emotionally charged work brimming with the artist inner self that flourishes in today’s galleries instead her photographs are black and white, frontal, neutral, anything mood-emoting or selected would contradict the purpose of her work , Relying completely on the privet life of strangers to supply the narrative content of her work she does not want to be part of it. In works like Stalker, Chamber maid, and Investigative Reporter Calle illustrates how various professions now work as proxies to intimate relationships. In her piece titled The Sleepers Calle focuses in on dramatizing how psychological research has replaced love and affection as the means to viewing the intimate aspects of one’s personality. She does this by keeping a very careful balance between sterility and intimacy in the circumstances surrounding the development of her pieces. Taking on the guise of Psychologist Calle starts by signing up 24 strangers most of whom were referred by friends in this step she is able to maintain anonymity while giving the participant the comfort of a mutual friend. The Second stage of this production is the location, for the sleepers she has chosen her own bed fuelling this sense of sterile vs. intimate by picking such an emotionally charged environment but rejecting the idea of interacting with her subjects. When a new sleeper arrives he has been instructed to wake the previous one and restore there position in bed for the next eight hours. Sitting at their bedside her position of psychologist is further dramatized by only interacting with the sleepers through a questionnaire, taking their picture once every hour and recording anything noteworthy about their sleeping. This neutrality in such an intimate setting is her way of depicting the metaphor of the paralyzed state of love in today’s society. Calle exploration of emotional distance here is at the core of all her work.