“That one makes me sad,” said my wife when looking at my open collage book. I hadn’t started a collage on the right hand page yet so I knew she was referencing the photo of the person lying down, being tested with the heading “Company Man”.
I didn’t reply with any hidden meaning or explanation, I just let her think about it and moved on.
When I create these collages I try to not overthink them. I like finding an image and some text to throw together and see what happens. Often they have some meaning, but it’s usually me being sarcastic and releasing some negative feelings instead of bottling them up. I often see the meaning once I’ve completed the collage. It’s like getting my brain dumped on to a page with images and text. I don’t plan the meaning, I just let it happen.
This process means I’m not thinking of other people’s opinions or reactions when creating these so it surprised me that something I made this quickly impacted someone else.
Aaron Hartley 