Tara Wray: Too Tired For Sunshine (Blog Review 11)

Artist Tara Wray is a lens-based artist from Vermont. Wray published a photobook called “Too Tired for Sunshine,” which documents “the beauty, darkness, and absurdity of everyday life, as seen through the lens of [her] own struggles with depression.” Rooted in documentary surrealism, she focuses her work on “intense natural light, small details, and use of color to evoke mood, atmosphere, and emotion.” When the book received positive feedback, Wray decided to create a space for expression and dialogue about depression and mental illness. This is the “Too Tired Project.” Photographers share their works on Instagram with the hashtag #tootiredproject, and exhibitions and other publications have derived from these submissions. An inclusive open call, this movement creates a platform for support and community in combating depression.

I was compelled to read this article, because of the images’ quality of documentary surrealism. The images make reality strange by focusing on light and color to create a sense of atmosphere. The work capture the everyday world in a light which points to the absurdity of it. I aim to do the same in my own work, pointing to the strangeness of the everyday in the domestic realm.