COMPOSURE

A Series of Compositional Collage Work

Of this work, someone asked me, “Aren’t you just grabbing random things out of magazines and slapping them together?”
The answer is no. No, I’m not. I collect piles of interesting cut outs, shapes, objects, and otherwise, and when I put them together, it’s not because they “look cool”… it’s because I’m asking myself with every decision… “Is this person, the same as this person? Is this cut out of an apple the same person as this cut out of a high heel? Do these words fit the persona?” And so each piece becomes not just a compositional collage, but a portrait, a whole identity, summarized by a handful of “random cut outs”, thoughtfully curated, and showcased. What a lovely metaphor for our very identities.

This is a collection that celebrates independent fragments and parts coming together to complete a single whole. This body of work surfaced within me from the IFS (Internal Family Systems) work I’ve done with a therapist. It stems from the study of parts in a system, and how those parts affect the whole. Each and every one of us has many "Parts”, inside of us. In IFS these are called Protectors (Firefighters and Managers), and Exiled child parts. The goal of IFS therapy is to unburden the parts, separate from them, heal them individually, and allow them to once again function completely as a whole, led by the Self (the YOU in you, the LOVE in you). As I began to collect clippings and snippets of magazines and photos, I felt called to create identities from these little slices of visual interest. Who would these parts become when placed together?
The answers lie down below.

ALL SIZES LISTED BY SIZE OF FRAME