Transcendence Through a Keyhole

 From the artist: I took this photograph through a keyhole while I was in Rome, standing on one side of a solid wall and peeking through a tiny opening, with my iPhone camera pressed up against it. Through my lens, I could see Saint Peter’s Basilica proudly waiting on the other side, just past the beautiful secret garden“in between” us. Sometimes we find ourselves on one side of a new door or passage — one that may even be closed for the moment. Yet choosing to focus beyond that passage, which may seem to hold us back even momentarily, is what invites magic into our lives. Embracing both the serendipitous journey unfolding before us and the spectacular destination we hope to experience on the other end is the true essence of life.

Remington Eliasek is a high school intern mentored by Gelana Tostaeva in the Ignacio Saez Lab at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Remington’s research involves coding and analyzing sharp-wave ripple data patterns gathered from intracranial recordings to determine how these occurrences correlate to cognitive memory processes and social navigation. Outside of school and the lab, photography is one of Remington’s favorite forms of creative expression. She loves that photography often represents our connection to our memories and life’s most powerful moments. In that way, Remington appreciates the synergy between her hobby and her scientific endeavors.