Nightmares in Photos

July 16, 2014 1:28 PM

Haunting Surreal Photographs from the 60s Inspired by Children’s Nightmares

Noted American photographer Arthur Tress is known for his strangely posed and articulated surrealist work. Born in November of 1940, he was merely in his twenties when one of his most poignant collections of work came to life. Depicting the dreams of children in the eeriest of forms, he dives into the subconscious side of children’s minds and draws out their biggest fears in the haunting photos that follow.

Artist's statement
Arthur Tress website
More about the project in a post on the Getty's online magazine.

posted by aka burlap (16 comments total)

Oh, the old woman/chair thingie in the stream is beautiful.

First, intriguing objects on Pinterest and then this? Best of the web indeed.
posted by bouvin at 1:31 PM on July 16, 2014

I would love for a photographer or artist to capture some of the weirder and scarier dreams I remember from childhood.
posted by michaelh at 1:46 PM on July 16, 2014

Album cover goldmine.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 1:48 PM on July 16, 2014 [3 favorites]

An Andalusian Dog, anyone? That made me uncomfortable. These just make me close the page.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 1:53 PM on July 16, 2014 [1 favorite]

apparently today's posts have a bit of a theme going on.
posted by The Whelk at 1:58 PM on July 16, 2014 [3 favorites]

I had this nightmare once when I was a kid and it has stuck with me for like 30 years. I was in class and somebody started snickering and trying to hide it and the teacher got mad and then more and more kids started trying to hold back laughter and then one after another their gums were falling off onto the desk, only they weren't like real gums, they were big and pink and puffy and jiggly when they hit the table, and everyone was covering their mouths with their hands while blood dripped out. Then there was this dragon thing, like the ones at the Chinese New Year parade, pretty sure it was the teacher at one point but we didn't notice it was a dragon until now, and it was mad and sorta flying around agitated and the school was now a ruin, and the dragon was spitting great big streams of blood out of its nostrils, and making the noise you hear when you shout underwater.

Probably hard to capture in a photo but would make a pretty fucked up short film I figure.
posted by Hoopo at 1:59 PM on July 16, 2014 [3 favorites]

*high-fives The Whelk and then checks to make sure our hands don't have eyeballs in the center of them*
posted by aka burlap at 2:02 PM on July 16, 2014 [1 favorite]

Hoopo, would you settle for a classroom full of kids holding hands over bloody mouths and pointing? That one I could do.

(or was it covering bloody mouths in horror of gums having fallen out? Either way, same setup.)

Anyway, we need to talk budget here. My grant money is about to run out.
posted by komara at 2:05 PM on July 16, 2014

I had a dream where my friend started screaming and his mouth kept getting wider and wider until his lips wrapped all the way around his head so his face was just inner lips, gums and teeth. When he stopped screaming his lips were so stretched out that they drooped below his clavicle.
posted by grumpybear69 at 2:06 PM on July 16, 2014

or was it covering bloody mouths in horror of gums having fallen out

Strangely the first couple of gums falling out made more people laugh and created a jiggly-gums-falling-out chain reaction. And it wasn't horror exactly; more like embarrassment. Because dream logic.
posted by Hoopo at 2:09 PM on July 16, 2014

My childhood nightmares weren't nearly this creative.
posted by The Girl Who Ate Boston at 2:54 PM on July 16, 2014

These are amazing.
posted by SisterHavana at 3:28 PM on July 16, 2014

This is great but I probably shouldn't have looked at it right before I go to sleep.

don't you follow me into my dreams little girl/gnome thing on the staircase nooooo
posted by billiebee at 3:56 PM on July 16, 2014 [2 favorites]

Anyone who wants to see a video-type rendering of a nightmare should check out this experimental YouTube video. NOT recommended for young kids.
posted by crapmatic at 4:08 PM on July 16, 2014

They left out sitting in the middle of the audience in the auditorium right before the lights come on and realizing that you are naked.
posted by Dip Flash at 4:29 PM on July 16, 2014

The old woman/chair thing! The little gnome-girl on the stairs!! So creepy! And yeah, my childhood nightmares weren't nearly this interesting.
posted by sarcasticah at 10:51 AM on July 17, 2014