Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak at 259 Lake Shore Blvd E

… before I wake (2000–12) is a video triptych from Steele and Tomczak comprised of Entranced (2012), Practicing Death (2003), and We’re Getting Younger All the Time (2001). Produced over a twelve-year period, and mostly shot in the context of their domestic dwelling, these works are a meditation on the body, aging, relationships, and the nature of the artists’ collaboration as partners in life and art. Each film confronts the mortal conditions of existence: that life is limited and will invariably end; that the body ages and gradually deteriorates; and that the creative relationship between the artists could end with one partner outliving the other. The first chapter of the trilogy, We’re Getting Younger All the Time, was made in 2000; Practicing Death followed three years later. It took another seven years before the final chapter, Entranced, was developed and produced.