Where I come from, we seem to have a cultural problem with sleep. The rules say it must be done in private and the forces of late stage capitalism require people to get by with increasingly less of it. Rather than incorporating naps into daily life, we incorporated coffee in enormous quantities instead.

Even in countries with a traditionally strong nap culture, it is in decline. While the siesta of the Hispanic world or the Italian riposo are slowly disappearing, in the South and East of Asia polyphasic sleep remains seductive.

Personal project
China, Myanmar, Vietnam, 2014-2015

China's right of the workers to rest (xiu xi) is a revered national institution and as such enshrined in the constitution by Mao himself. Nowhere is it explicitly said that everyone in China should be asleep between noon and 2pm, but at times this is how it seems.

There are plenty of socioeconomic and cultural reasons why power naps are seamlessly woven into the tapestry of everyday life. The expansion of urban centres is extending commuting time, financial pressures force people to work longer hours for extra cash, an inclusive concept of public spaces makes sleeping in public free of stigma or shame, noise pollution in cities and erosion of privacy are disrupting sleep patterns, to just name the obvious.

But sometimes it's the heat combined with a heavy mid-day meal that makes a nap in the shade just too appealing to resist.

I worked on this personal project while travelling across China, Myanmar and Vietnam for over 5 months. The hardest bit was to actually remember shooting it, instead of as well following the temptation of sweet, sweet xiu xi.