Susan Burnstine

“Circuitous”

ARTIST STATEMENT

Circuitous is from the series On Waking Dreams. This series explores that fleeting moment between dreaming and waking–the blurred seconds in which imagination and reality collide. With this series, I wanted to find a way to portray these types of dream-like visions, but entirely in-camera, rather than with post-processing manipulations. To achieve this, I created twenty hand-made cameras and lenses that are frequently unpredictable. Learning to overcome their extensive limitations has required me to rely on instinct and intuition—the same tools key for attempting to interpret dreams.

ARTIST BIO

Susan Burnstine is a professional photographer who builds homemade cameras and lenses primarily made out of plastic, vintage camera parts and random household objects. Susan earned B&W Magazine’s Excellence Award for the 2006 Portfolio Contest, the Silver Award for B&W’s 2008 Single Image contest, she’s been nominated for the 2007 Aperture West Book Prize & PDN top 30 2008. She’s been featured in Camera Arts Magazine, B&W, Black & White Photography, Shots, PDN EDU and Kamera & Bild Magazine. Susan’s represented at Susan Spiritus Gallery, Soulcatcher Studio, Wall Space Gallery, and Watermark Fine Art Photographs.

Selected by Carol McCusker, Curator of Photography at the Harn Museum of Art.