dream souvenirs
Sweet Dreams and Dark Dreams are sets of souvenir photographs from dreams. Each set of 16 photos is contained in a black, velveteen-lined paper enclosure to enhance your reveries. All images are © and created by Janet Galore, some in collaboration with an AI. They debuted at Orcas Paley’s group exhibition, Daydream Doodle in October 2022.
Sweet Dreams
Janet Galore, 2022
16 photographs in paper and velveteen enclosure
4.25” x 4.25” x 0.25”
Edition of 16
Dark Dreams
Janet Galore, 2022
16 photographs in paper and velveteen enclosure
4.25” x 4.25” x 0.25”
Edition of 16
About the Dream Souvenirs
I was invited to participate in Orcas Paley’s group exhibition, Daydream Doodle (October 2022), “In honor of wandering minds, wild tangents, and the exquisitely incomplete.” As I was thinking about what I wanted to make (which happens when I’m half asleep as often as when I’m awake), I got the idea of creating photographs that were souvenir snapshots from dreams.
When I have a vivid dream, I sometimes reach for my phone and do a voice recording or write down what I remember before it fades away—the strong sense of mood, place, and characters are so ephemeral. If I record a dream in some way, I find that I recall certain moments very clearly, even years later. My mind plays them back as scenes in films, like remembering an exotic travel experience that had a strong impression.
I had been playing with DALL-E 2 and other generative AI services like Midjourney as part of my art process, to complement sketching early ideas by hand. I decided to use some prompts to evoke scenes from dreams I’ve had, and was struck at how close I could get to the image I had in my head. It was fun tweaking the generations to get to a memory of something that never happened. I eventually landed on a series of 16 images each of Dark Dreams and Sweet Dreams. The images are a mix of actual photos, AI-generated imagery, and Photoshop manipulation.
One of the images is a hummingbird in a front shirt pocket named “Yeni Lute,” from a dream I had in February 18, 2015:
“Just woke from a dream where I passed a brilliantly pink metallic magenta hummingbird on the ground on the street, popping up and down opening its mouth to me…hungry. I picked it up and it flew into my hands, excited! It said in a little fairy voice, “My name is Yeni. I’m Yeni Lute.” And amazed, I said “Hi, Yeni! Are you hungry? Are you hungry?” And she said “Yes! Yes!” And she popped into the right breast pocket of the white lab coat I was wearing, and started to close her eyes with her head poking out of the pocket. I went inside and found a little strawberry jam in a tiny jar and began to mix it with water to feed her when my alarm went off. I’m sad because I wanted to hear her talk again.”