Collage

At the beginning of my project I was interested in using collage to help me further my ideas, to help me develop compositions and merge together images. But as I have explored the different techniques and aesthetics of collage I am beginning to think that it can be used to produce both interesting and relevant pieces for my project.
My first interest in collage was producing pieces that are formed from torn/fragmented piece of images - I began with images from nature magazines e.g. plants, fungi, fruit, vegetables and even insects. I wanted to show a sense of transition through life cycles of both flora and insect life - to show links between growth and decay, reproduction and decline etc.

I began working further with my own imagery - the photographs I took depicting organic elements. I wanted to create a sense of the natural world but also the changes that it goes through throughout it's life span. I was not entirely sure what methods to use so I continued with the tearing-and-pasting techniques which formed an organic composition in an unusual shape. I really like the strange shape that was formed with the fragments of images - it seems more organic and more naturally formed which is how I like to create my work. I feel if I created more pieces in a similar way - in a series - then it would seem like a transition, exemplify the natural life processes, through the stages. I feel that I find it easier, and it comes more natural to me, to create spontaneous collages; ones that are not restricted to a retangular sheet of paper. With the sheet collages there is the temptation and pressure to fill the page which prevents the collage from coming together more naturally - I plan to experiment with more tear-and-paste collages and form them onto different types of paper or even over the top of other images (most likely photographs of simple landscapes).