Ivannalys exorcises your phobias and nightmares in chilling photos

In response to the school bullying she suffered when she was younger, Ivannalys tells us about approaching photography as a way of “to trust in [elle] and control [son] image”, “a way of [s]escape, from [se] show otherwise”.

Today, when she has decided to make it her profession, the photographer uses her art to help others understand their own image and, thanks to her series I’m afraid to go to sleepto tame their fears, nightmares and phobias.

These are his own “night terrors, sleep paralysis and recurring nightmares” and a “good bundle of phobias” who convinced Ivannalys to put in images these fears which mark and haunt the spirits.

In 2018, she launched a call for witnesses on the networks and used “tons and tons of testimonials” received to launch his project and immortalize the volunteers. A single requirement motivates its choice of models: “have people of all ages”. “We associate these subjects too much with childhood. What adult has no fear? What adult never has nightmares? Is that a shame?”she asks.

Ivannalys immerses her grandmother in a “bloodbath”she sets the stage “a Christian person’s nightmare [qui] dreams that she ends up being the devil”the fear felt by another as soon as she sets foot in a church, “fear of the dentist” or “witchcraft”. All these testimonials come to life without special effects or editing. “I wanted to challenge myself and prove that we could do anything when shooting”she reports.

To recount the fear of blood, she fills her grandmother’s bathtub with water and tomato sauce, “which caused his bathroom to smell like bolognese for a very long time, too long”, laughs Ivannalys. The pulled teeth are those of the photographer, kept by her parents when she was a child, and the burning cross is very real, she says.

“It was a cross home-made made by my boyfriend and my brother-in-law. We wrapped it in strips (the ones used in the hospital to make a bandage) that we had soaked in kerdane [pétrole désaromatisé combustible], then a torch was lit which was used to light the cross. All with my stepmother and my boyfriend [à côté] with a garden hose in case of a problem. It was impressive to see and very aesthetic”she narrates.

The props, sets and testimonials vary but one constant remains: Ivannalys’ models fix the camera lens, meeting the gaze of the public, in order to show their “weariness” in the face of these daily fears.

“Sometimes these are things that will never leave us. We can be afraid of clowns all our lives. I wanted the subjects to bear witness to this. And then, honestly, they are not pro models, nor comedians. playing fear could have made the project more ridiculous and less believable”unfolds the photographer.

Started in 2018 for her graduation, the project lasted until this year. No longer suffering from recurring nightmares, the artist has extended his inspirations to “Horror Classics”. “Scarecrows, Satanism, witchcraft, Halloween, gore. I had hidden that part in 2018 but I realized that this same horror cinema was inspired by people’s fears. I wanted to do it like in the movies.” A cinema inspired by reality, in order to learn how to manage reality, in the face of one’s fears.

You can find Ivannalys’ work on instagram, Twitter, Youtube and on his website.