From the beginning of her photographic career, Leona Strassberg Steiner has searched for ways to take photographs that are not realistic adaptations of what she sees or perceives. When Steiner’s work suggests an altered state of consciousness, or a dream like, or painterly quality, then she knows she has been successful in her endeavors. Leona’s photos suggest a place in time that maybe really does exist, but maybe not in our present dimension or time. Steiner prefers to leave actual details as an unknown, so that the viewer is never really sure where this picture may have been taken or if it is even from this lifetime or realm of consciousness. Having come from the dance world, the visuals that Leona created then on stage were never what they seemed; this way of looking at the world continues in her photography and image making today.
