Jennifer Schlesinger

There is no closed figure in nature. Every shape participates with another. No one thing is independent of another, and one thing rhymes with another, and light gives them shape. -Henri Cartier-Bresson

OBJECT DIAPORA: 2009-Ongoing
In our rapid developing culture of constantly making and inventing the new, I am drawn to what is not new, but timeless. I am intrigued by the significance of what has paved the way for the new. People of all cultures hold onto sacred possessions that have been given to them, passed on, or have special meaning. These are the objects I am intrigued by. I have photographed people’s sacred possessions that once belonged to someone else in an attempt to merge the memory and the spirit of the person in which the item originally belonged to, as well as the person whose possession it now resides, placing it into a new milieu.

I am attracted to these possessions for the symbol they become to their owner, the meaning and metaphor they represent. Sometimes these objects are so simple and so basic, some are transcendent or spiritual, some are organic and temporary, some are newer and some are antiques that preceded our contemporary lifestyle; all are in some way significant, representational and in some cases, have traveled deep and far, to get where they are now. We breathe our spirit into these possessions, and we use them with the spirit of the person who gave them to us, they become an “Object Diaspora.”

This ongoing series of images are taken with a large format pinhole camera. They are toned gelatin silver prints on 8×10” Foma paper, created in an edition of 12 with 3 Artist Proofs.

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