One issue. One moment. One newspaper.
Every day I find wonder and worry as an artist, mother, and citizen. Daily, we are bombarded by an incessant soundtrack of alarm, outrage, and opinion. We live amidst a torrent of shouting. Armed with a timely political issue, a moment finds me as I go about my day. This snapshot of my small life becomes an intricate, intimate narrative assembled exclusively of hand cut text and photos from a single newspaper. Headlines transform into visual discourse as found language reveals spontaneous insight. I ruminate on the tension between private reflection and civic concern in hand cut analog collage.
Composing personal moments into a larger conversation becomes both meditation and anchor. The thrill of chance and coincidence guides new directions within the limited resources of typestyle and tonal value. Letters reconfigure into unexpected relevance and solutions to complicated visual puzzles. Uncomfortable truths are intertwined with opposing political perspectives, personal and public.
Some resist engaging with my work, much as we resist the morning news. What phrases will resonate, and when? What can pull focus in an attention economy where opinion is as disposable as newsprint? Thank goodness for a sense of humor.
“You become what you give your attention to. If you yourself don’t choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will … and their motives may not be the highest.” The Art of Living ~ Epictetus