Blog 6

Jill Fineberg's book People I Sleep With

Bio: Jill Fineberg was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and after pursuing a professional photography career in New York City, moved to New Mexico in 1983.She worked for many years as an entertainment photographer, covering live concerts for Diana Ross, Bette Midler, Liza Minnelli, Prince and Anita O’Day, as well as shooting Broadway shows and ballet. She has been published in Time, Newsweek, People Magazine, After Dark, and Dance Magazine. As a commercial photographer, Fineberg worked for magazines such as Mothering, Common Boundary, New Mexico Magazine, Woman’s World, Instructor, The Sun, and Family Weekly, and companies including AT&T, Miles Pharmaceuticals, IBM, Learning Forum/Supercamp, and the Whitney Museum. She also worked as a photo editor for the Associated Press, Gamma-Liaison Picture Agency, and Harper & Row Publishers.Upon moving to New Mexico, Fineberg focused her skills as an intuitive energy bodyworker, and recently became certified as a grief counselor. She began PEOPLE I SLEEP WITH in 1997, after creating an intimate image of her mother Mickey, in bed with her beloved chihuahua, Sophie, early one Alabama morning. Fineberg put the project aside for years due to a highly successful bodywork / healing practice. But after the deaths of her mother and Sophie (exactly two weeks apart), and more recently, her longtime kitty companion, Miracle Maxine, who slept with her every night of her long life, she decided to revive the idea.

Exhibitions: http://www.peopleisleepwith.com/media.html

Statement: "In a G-rated volume with an R-rated name, photographer Fineberg takes an intimate look at "those we let into our beds" by snapping black-and-white pictures of people napping with their pets. Fineberg gives her subjects a two-page spread: one page offers a series of small, seemingly preparatory shots (a cat mincing her away along a bed, for example), while the facing page reveals the real snoozing action (the same cat, joined by more cats and a few dogs, lying on a bed with her human companions). Happily, Fineberg goes beyond cats and dogs: she captures a man dozing in the dirt with two donkeys, a boy napping with his pet scorpion and a woman sleeping with her 125-pound potbellied pig. Some of the photos seem too staged—Can that lady really be sleeping while that gecko's sitting on her face?—but they're charming nevertheless. Complementary quotes (from Jane Goodall, Stephen Budiansky, May Sarton, etc.) accompany the dozens of b&wphotos, and captions at the back of the book reveal more about the photos' subjects. Fineberg also lists some of the benefits of the human-animal bond (e.g., studies have shown that people with pets have fewer minor health problems than people without) as well as the names and addresses of numerous organizations dedicated to animal welfare. This is a sweet, just slightly schmaltzy exploration of the animal-human bond."
-Publishers Weekly Review
People I Sleep With book description: "Somewhere at the dawn of our history, a wolf lay down by a Cro-Magnon campfire and the first intimate relationship between animal and human was born. As the millennia passed, we learned to harness the tireless speed and strength of horses and matchless hunting and herding skills of dogs, and thus became the dominant mammals on the planet. We continue to employ and rely on animals to this day, not only for the many heroic and utilitarian services they perform, but also for the peerless companionship and unconditional love they offer. PEOPLE I SLEEP WITH documents this very special bond between some very special creatures, both domestic and exotic, and their beloved human guardians. This powerful collection of images is by turns poignant, provocative, and whimsical. It is impossible not to marvel at the mastiff and the boa curled protectively around their dreaming boy. Or smile at the sensitive hen snuggled up to her girl, the inky embrace of the tattooed gentleman with napping poodles, or the dapper, delicate scorpion and his dozing young friend. Each photograph captures the effortless intimacy between species as they sleep, sometimes tenderly intertwined, sometimes not even touching, yet always quietly, undeniably connected. "