Children have the candid imagination to entertain themselves effortlessly for pure play and invention. In between the adult reality and the purely imaginative one is the magic. The magic is the inexplicable place that lies somewhere between here and there. It is the mystery of the unknown that enchants humans into believing in any given religion or any spiritual path. For humans, it is this mystery that leads to curiosity, which can be the impetus to bring forth solutions and innovations for healing the Earth's future. The images in this series are my interpretations of these initial magical, mysterious moments of inspiration.
These images are influenced by literature, folklore, invention and reality as well as the unexplained and the curious. They can not be attributed to any one given place – they are neither here nor there.
Jennifer Schlesinger is an artist, curator, and educator based out of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Schlesinger has approached her fine art photography with an interest in the historical development of photography as an artistic medium - having influences from the age old camera obscura, to 19th century albumen process, to 20th century gelatin silver printing and the evolution of digital technology allowing for the marriage of the new and the old.
Her artistic mediums of choice have been the 19th Century albumen process and gelatin silver printing processes and her work mostly focuses on the landscape and how humans philosophically interact with the natural world around them. She uses photography as a tool to capture the world around her both poetically and metaphorically, and is highly influenced by the investigation of life through philosophy.
Schlesinger graduated from the College of Santa Fe in 1998 with a B.A. in Photography and Journalism. Schlesinger has exhibited widely at Southwest regional institutions such as the Marion Center for Photographic Arts (SFUAD), Santa Fe Art Institute and the New Mexico Museum of Art, as well as national institutions such as the Southeast Museum of Photography and the Chelsea Art Museum.