Schuyler Fishman, among many other things, is a mostly self taught photographer and book artist, who has been receiving photographic inspiration since the age of 13. She minored in photography at Cornell University and studied photography at San Francisco State University. After 20 years of training as an environmental scientist and educator, a martial artist, a community organizer, an activist and youth worker, and a yoga teacher, Schuyler is fulfilling her life-long dream to be a professional artist.
I photograph as a form of walking meditation.
My images are designed to express a quality of awakeness, and heightened awareness.
I listen for the photographs. I may use my eyes, but what I see is usually fleeting, an introduction to some other sense that tells me how or what to communicate. Through my work, I would hope to follow in the footsteps of my photographic influences, such as Diane Arbus, Francesca Woodman, Mary Ellen Mark, and Meridel Rubenstien. However, I am led to express similar sentiments with inanimate objects, and with objects from the natural world, rather than photographing people.
My understanding of the environment is always informing my investigations, leading me to ask questions with the camera. While my images are about a sense of place, they are also a projection of that place through me. They are emotional landscapes. As a meditation, I witness my thoughts and feeling as expressed through the lens.
I create small books and boxes as a way to give the viewer an intimate experience of the subject I am documenting. As if unpacking someone's bags after they have come home from a journey, the viewer can share my experience. Viewing the books can transport you to these spaces and experience them as sacred. I create books so that you can see yourself reflected in my stories. It is my hope that it will inspire you to take many journeys of your own.