Per Somnum is the a part of the Equus Refractus series.

Per Somnum is a work about passing through sleep — a state of gentle illusion where everything feels calm, warm, and safe. This is the most deceptive kind of sleep: it soothes, softens the edges of reality, and creates the sense of a stability that doesn’t truly exist. Waking up from a nightmare is easy. Waking up from a tender, comforting dream is almost impossible. Yet this is the awakening that reveals what is real.

In this piece, the horse refracts through the depth of sleep like a crystal forming in water. It does not dissolve in the soft medium; instead, it gains structure, density, and inner clarity. Here, refraction is not about altering the form, but about revealing it — the ability to remain intact within the realm of illusion and to emerge from it without losing one’s essence.

For me, Per Somnum is about the moment when eyes open not because something is frightening, but because it becomes clear. It is about the strength to stay undissolved where everything invites you to sink back into quietness, and about the kind of freedom that begins with recognizing what is real and what was only a dream.