For my first collage, l aimlessly flipped through magazines. My guiding concept was my motive to make this out of whatever I felt most drawn to. The very first image that caught my eye was a satellite picture of the globe being lit up by city lights.
I’ve always preferred the moon over the sun. I find comfort in the darkness. If, like Yin and Yang, there is an undeniable presence of good in bad or bad in good, then I’d prefer to find the good in bad and not the other way around. That’s why I gravitated toward the darkness of space. Looking at how collectively, we lit up the world whether we knew it or not and it felt very comforting and meaningful, which is why I included it. Even though it’s only a small detail now, I’d like to share its contribution to my piece; as the inspiration of the central mood.
My second collage sprung about in a different fashion. I was drawn to the contrasting colors and so became my theme. It was more playful than my last collage in that it made me smile while I was creating it, rather than serving as a source of hope and deep meaning. It was neither here nor there, more of a veiled and mysterious message to the world.
I often wondered if it would be a good collage because it seemed so calm. The composition wasn’t as busy as other collages, and didn’t provide an insight on the world or a reflection on my emotions; it was more open to interpretation. But just because I didn’t create it with intention, doesn’t mean that I didn’t discover layers of meaning afterward. Looking at it now, I see it as a symbol of validity despite its lack of definition. When a child sits down to create art, they don’t need an intention. The act of creating gives meaning to whatever appears and this feeling is what I wanted to tap into from the beginning.
