Jennifer Schlesinger Hanson

As I observe my young daughter's craving for imagination, I see the potential in that creativity and how it could be harnessed to make positive changes for the world. 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.

The prints in this ongoing series are approximately 8 x 3.5”, and each print is a unique selenium toned, handcoated albumen print in an edition of 9 with 3 artist proofs. The Albumen process, which involves simple egg whites as the base on the paper for light sensitive silver nitrate, serves the intent of the series in that Albumen is the perfect combination of the magical and the scientific. Albumen is a prime example of how the combination of creative innovation and curiosity progressed the photographic world into a major artistic and societal shift at the time of its invention.