Susan Burnstine’s Within Shadows is a subtle, indelibly memorable photographic exploration of the fleeting moments between dreaming and waking—the blurred seconds in which imagination and reality collide. Burnstine is one of the few photographers today avidly pursuing alternative analogue processes to create an idiosyncratic and deeply personal visual landscape. As a child, she suffered vivid nightmares that stayed with her for days. When awake, these powerful dreams would induce a liminal state that opened up an exploration of the subconscious, wherein she discovered a curious synthesis of magic and reality. Within these unfamiliar states of mind that bridged the gap between real and unreal, she found symbolic intimations of life and death. Though the intensity of her dreams did not lessen as an adult, her response transformed. “Initially,” she says, “I was lost within the haze of my dreams. But now, it is through my dreams that I truly see.”
Susan Burnstine
Within Shadows
Publisher: Charta (2011)
ISBN-13: 978-8881588114
Hardcover, 100 pages, 45 duotones
Order the book: www.susanburnstine.com
