I can't sleep when I'm anxious

Background I can’t sleep when I’m anxious: thinking through the blue hour (2020) engages with contemporary art practices exploring temporality, mental health, and emotional states through sensory and contemplative means. Situated within time-based and affective art, the work draws on phenomenological scholarship regarding twilight and liminal times, as well as critical discourses on anxiety and insomnia within artistic and psychological research. Influenced by artists and theorists investigating light, mood, and mental wellbeing, the project addresses gaps in materialising transitional times of day to reflect complex psychological experiences. Contribution Courtney Coombs presents a multidisciplinary body of work incorporating neon vertical horizons, industrial materials, text etched into mirrored steel, and digital collage to evoke the sensory and emotional qualities of the blue hour—the twilight threshold between day and night. Funded by the competitive Arts Queensland Individual Fund, the project uses these materials and forms to articulate experiences of anxiety and sleeplessness, creating immersive environments that explore restlessness and reflection. This material and conceptual approach expands knowledge of how temporal and affective phenomena can be embodied in contemporary art, positioning sensory engagement as a means of expressing nuanced mental states. Significance Supported through Arts Queensland’s competitive Individual Fund, I can’t sleep when I’m anxious advances discourse on the intersection of art, mental health, and affective experience. Its innovative use of neon, industrial materials, and digital collage offers fresh methodologies for representing liminal psychological states and temporalities. The project’s funding and presentation affirm its significance within Australia’s contemporary art context, providing valuable insights into how multisensory artistic strategies foster empathetic engagement and critical reflection on anxiety and the human condition.