Jane Strauss

Jane Strauss recently made two books about including people with disabilities in Faith communities available. The first, A Part or Apart?, is a photography book based upon her exhibit of black and white photos of the same name. The second, Everybody’s Talking About A Part or Apart? includes three discussion guides for the original materials, and scriptural references from the three Abrahamic faiths. The books are presented through the website, https://www.a-part-or-apart.com

I first picked up a camera in the late 1960s on the East Coast, when at the age of fifteen I learned to shoot and develop 35 mm black and white film. I’ve been enamored of graphic arts ever after. Since then, I have tried to be practical, pursued multiple academic courses of study, relocated to the Twin Cities in the mid-1970s, raised a family, worked with community organizations, nonprofits, and in the practice of law, before returning to my first love, art. As a digital photographer, I am largely self-taught, only beginning to work at that craft in 2004, after my eldest daughter had become an artist and teacher in the medium.

My art flows from who I am, a person placed on the autistic spectrum in midlife who has often wondered why I see detail many folks miss. I look at the trees and the forest, and see the geometric shapes between and within them. I wait for the animals to settle, and come right up to them for a look. I notice small details and parts of things that for the usual person blend in with their surroundings. I look up to the sky when many would look down or straight ahead. I focus on reflections. Once images are digitized, I use Photoshop to crop, enlarge and adjust them to reflect what I saw, rarely using other aspects unless they substantially strengthen the primary image, or provide a strongly-contrasting accompanying image.