Sunday, March 28, 2010

The Fun of Collage


I wanted to share a little activity I did this week: a personal collage. The idea was to find images and quotes in magazines that reflect who you are, and put them all together. Pretty straightforward, or so I thought!

It turned out, the things that spoke to me in the magazines weren't so much the pictures, but the colours. It wasn't until I was cutting around a photo of a woman doing yoga on the beach to get a good chunk of the lovely striped beach towel next to her that I realised perhaps this was a bit strange! Didn't I want to see myself in the woman: calm, active, in a beautiful place? No, not really. What about the couple on another page, having champagne on the patio, who I cut around to get to their green bushes, didn't I want to see myself there? Again, not particularly.

What seemed important, instead, was trying to get reflect who I am at normal times. There weren't any photos in the magazines of women eating grapes in their pajamas in front of a movie. There weren't any photos of women hauling a kitchen chair out into the garden to sit and write outside. And so, instead, I tried to capture the colours that I want to define me: sunny colours, bright colours, for the moments of creativity; calm colours for the restfulness.

Anyway, what hadn't seemed to me to be such an inspiring project when I began became something which really made me think. I wonder what photos you could find that you see yourself reflected in?

6 comments:

Stacy Kraus McDonald said...

Oh, I'm loving my collage too.

Great colors! I cut out something for the pink so I totally understand. :-)

LeelaBijou said...

What an amazing project! Wonderful collage :)

Loreal said...

So beautiful!

Unknown said...

Love your thinking about making your collage. I never got mine made because - like you I didn't identify with the people in the magazines. Now I can try again but looking for colour and moods. Thanks xxx

Ann said...

Love the colours in your collage. Maybe you could add my link to the unraveller's Blogs.
http://annh-annsp.blogspot.com

Anna said...

Hi Astrid, What a fascinating revelation about your collage. Unique too. I always like to find pictures that I see myself doing, like you mentioned. Never did I thought about finding the colors that spoke to me. Your collage is very vibrant, but I am not surprised since you like all things red.