TOBI ZAUSNER, PhD, LCSW
Tobi Zausner, PhD, LCSW, is a research psychologist, a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, a clinician in private practice, and a visual artist with works in major museums and private collections. Dr. Zausner, who investigates creativity, consciousness, nonlinear dynamics, and cognitive neuroscience, is on the Advisory Board for the Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research and an officer on the Board of A.C.T.S (Arts, Crafts, and Theatre Safety), a nonprofit organization investigating health hazards in the arts. Dr. Zausner has taught at the C. G. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology, Saybrook University, Long Island University, and The New School. Her 2016 book, When Walls Become Doorways: Creativity and the Transforming Illness, examines the positive influence of physical illness on the creativity of visual artists. Her 2022 book, The Creative Trance; Altered States of Consciousness and the Creative Process, published by Cambridge University Press, explores the creative process across domains, demonstrating that it is an altered state of consciousness.
Day Journey
(Archival print on paper, available in multiple sizes)
This year’s entry into Mirrors of the Mind 12 (2023), is Day Journey, an archival print on paper, available in multiple sizes. Its symbolism comes from the Kabbalah, which says that when we sleep our soul travels home. Here, the child is our soul that has never forgotten how to fly. There are moments in waking life too when we feel this way, connected to an inner joy. That joyous part of us, not always accessed, is eternally there despite whatever sadness or loss life may bring. It is within our capacity to uncover this joy, bring it forth, and share it with others. The bird is the child’s playmate and guide. Cross-culturally, birds are psychopomps, guides for the soul.
My work is about possibilities depicted as actualities to inspire dreams in the viewer. The images balance between known and unknown. Their careful rendering suggests reality while their visual content enlarges the possibilities of consciousness. The works are dreams made real, making “what if” appear “as is.”