Facing the faceless: An awareness story like no other

Nicolas Bruno was just six or seven when he woke from an afternoon nap, conscious but utterly paralysed. “From the corner of my eye, a figure entered the bedroom and walked towards the window beside my bed. I tried to turn and face the figure, but my body was completely frozen,” recalls the New York-based photographer. It was the beginning of a lifelong relationship with sleep paralysis, one that would terrify him, reshape him, and ultimately become the foundation of his surreal photographic world.

In his early teens, sleep paralysis became a nightly affair, and that led to insomnia. Bruno started having difficulty in classes. “Each night, I would be terrified to go back to sleep and face the feeling of being paralysed while an ominous figure stood at the foot of my bed,” he tells THE WEEK.

Sometimes, he felt that these experiences transcended into an astral projection experience, where he could leave his body and travel through his home. Bruno, now 32, thought these experiences were just some horrible nightmares, or some form of haunting. 

At the time, Bruno had no name for what he was experiencing, and like many people, he didn’t know the science behind it. Sleep paralysis is the temporary inability to move or speak while your brain transitions into or out of the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep. This stage is known to kick off vivid and dramatic dreams for all people.

Neuroscientist Dr Adam Haar Horowitz, a researcher at the MIT Media Lab and Harvard Medical School, says sleep paralysis occurs when the brain and body fall out of sync. “The motor system switches off to keep us from acting out dreams, but the cognitive system is awake,” he explains. “That timing mismatch leaves the mind alert while the body remains temporarily paralysed.” And, it could go a step beyond that—one could have breathing difficulties and chest pressure, see or hear things that are not there and even feel that they are having an out-of-body experience.

It wasn’t until Bruno began creating his artwork that he finally realised what he was truly experiencing. When the episodes intensified during high school, he confided in his art teacher, who helped him channel his fear into creativity. He encouraged Bruno to keep a dream journal. Bruno started recording everything—rough sketches, fragmented descriptions and the strange silhouettes that haunted his nights.

A month into the journal, the characters from his nightmares began to take shape in his mind. He started experimenting with self-portrait photography, where he could not only depict the terrifying figures but also start taking control of them by creating elaborate costumes and setting up surreal dreamscapes. “It became a therapeutic release to create these images and share them with the world,” says Bruno.

His creative process is not only a technical endeavour, but a deeply personal ritual. It begins with his dream journal, where he logs all of his nightmarish experiences. They become the blueprint for his photography. “These entries will directly inform the creation of my surreal concepts,” he says.

He then picks up an entry and creates a refined sketch that gives an idea of how the final picture would appear. This helps him figure out what costumes he needs to sew and what props he needs to build. The next step is location-hunting, usually across the length and breadth of Long Island, New York. The final spot is fixed to match the mood of the image in the best possible way.

When the weather conditions are right, Bruno hauls his camera gear down the coast to set up the scene. He props the camera on a tripod and turns on the interval timer, allowing him to take a photograph every three seconds. He then models in front of the camera in different poses. He changes his costume to become multiple models, and manipulates the environment with fog, fire and water. Once home, he begins stitching together the images to create the final photograph. 

“This process allows me to work as an independent artist without assistants or extra models. By reliving my dreams through my photography, I regain control over each experience and create a tangible artefact that I can share with the world,” he says.

Bruno’s most recurring nightmare involves a faceless trio who appears at his bedside and tries to pull him off the bed. “I feel an immense pressure on my chest and it feels impossible to breathe. They exude a terrifying negative energy that permeates the room,” he recounts.

To capture this surreal scene on camera, he placed an antique bed in the middle of a marshland. “I submerged myself in the freezing water to become three of the faceless entities that I see in my experiences,” says Bruno. “Using a layering technique, I combine all the images in the photo-shoot to produce the final image. Everything that is seen in the image happens in front of the camera and no AI is involved.”

After seeing his works, thousands of sleep paralysis sufferers around the world reached out to him. They could relate to the content within Bruno’s imagery, seeing their own nightmares reflected back at them. “It helped me feel less alone, knowing there were other people in the world experiencing this sleep disorder,” he says.

His life’s mission emerged naturally: To create surreal artwork that brings awareness about sleep paralysis so that others can learn about the disorder and get the help they need.

What once paralysed him now fuels his creativity. Bruno’s images don’t just depict nightmares—they rewrite them.