Photographer David Dauba is an Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this photo essay. From the ‘Idées noires, nuits blanches/Sleepless Nights / Dark Thoughts’ series. To see David ‘s body of work, click on any photograph.

In a world overwhelmed by selfies, is it possible to create a portrait of a man while making his face disappear completely? This is the challenge I have set myself since 2021 with the series Sleepless Nights / Dark Thoughts, a collection of faceless portraits that plays with perception and the conventions of portrait photography.

At once humorous, poetic, colorful, profound, intriguing, and filled with subtle irony, these images immerse the viewer in a mystery: Who is this man? What is he trying to tell us? What is he thinking? Why does he refuse to reveal everything? Yet once the initial surprise has passed, the viewer realizes that this deliberate act of self-erasure ultimately reveals far more than a visible face ever could.

These faceless portraits first encourage the viewer to study the photograph itself. Composition, light, setting, staging—every element becomes a clue in the search for meaning, an attempt to escape the discomfort created by the missing face. Then, inevitably, the viewer is left with no choice but to reflect. The absence of a face becomes a mirror, inviting each person to project their own story onto the image. In the end, doesn’t absence sometimes reveal more than presence?

An ongoing and constantly evolving project, the series has been exhibited on numerous occasions, including twice as part of the Off program of the Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles in 2022.

Artist Biography

Following an initial series of exhibitions between 2010 and 2012, entitled Without and One Face, the first images of  Sleepless Nights / Dark Thoughts were created in 2021.

The series quickly attracted the attention of photography professionals and was presented for the first time at the Off program of the Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles in 2022 and again in 2023. It has since been exhibited at the Fréjus Surrealist Photography Festival, the photography festivals of Pont-Saint-Esprit, Pézenas, Privas, Chabeuil, Saint-Genest-Lerpt, Kaysersberg, and Sète, at the Lamanon Exhibition Hall in Salon-de-Provence, as part of the New Art Festival in Lourmarin, and at the International Contemporary Art Fairs of Marseille and Avignon.

In addition to its recognition within the photographic community, the series has also received significant media coverage. It was featured in Corridor Éléphant Magazine(Issue 7-3) and OpenEyes in 2025. Individual photographs have been published in Digital Photo (2022), Chasseur d’Images (2024), and Opale Art (2025). My work has also been featured on France 3’s regional news program 19/20, in the newspapers La Provence, Vaucluse Matin, and La Dépêche du Midi, as well as in interviews on France Bleu Provence, France Bleu Gard Lozère, and France Bleu Vaucluse.

The series has also received several awards, including First Prize at the Carpentras Photo Festival (2023), the Audience Second Prize at the Saint-Siffret Photo Festival, and the Palme 2025 at the Photos dans Lerpt Festival.

All images and text © David Dauba