Groggy-eyed and dazed, there’s a brief moment between sleep and consciousness.

That was the inspiration for Wichita State graduate student Kesly Gossett’s photo series, called “Wake Up,” now on display in the Cadman Art Gallery until Friday.

Located in the Rhatigan Student Center, the gallery is home to a rotation of student exhibits to showcase their work and creative efforts. It also gives students professional experience in curating, organizing and exhibiting their pieces where the entire community is invited to view.

The gallery sends out invites for students to apply.

“You have to show your work to a panel and then from there they decide what student work they’re going to show from that year,” Gossett said. “It’s exciting [to show] in this space in particular because you get students walking by that might not necessarily seek out art, but they come because it’s here, it’s convenient and might have caught their eye.”

“Wake Up” is a series Gossett has been working on for about a year. The inspiration for the work came from her interest in the brief moment between when the body wakes up and when a person becomes fully conscious, she said. 

First, Gossett found subjects that would let her shoot them right as they woke.

“Basically I would get a key from them and show up about 30 minutes before they would typically wake up in the morning and then actually wake them up,” she said. “I would just let myself in their house, knock on their bedroom door and start photographing right away so there were no moments that were lost.”

Jennifer Ray, assistant professor of photography at WSU, has been one of Gossett’s professors for three semesters.

“She has developed really significantly,” Ray said. “She’s gone from primarily being a wedding or senior portraits photographer to really developing a strong sense of identity in her work. She has started making work that is very personal and deals with issues that are very much about her as well as other people.”

Gossett said she thinks this project is one that is intriguing.

 “I think this series has been really interesting because you know you aren’t quite aware of your body and aren’t self-conscious yet so that is what I’ve been striving to photograph,” she said. “Especially as the subject becomes aware of the camera, they will want to pose so this series shows some sort of honesty in the brief amount of time.”