Letting things assemble themselves

Collage for me has been an underlying hobby, practice, play zone, slow-down moment, and a way to remember how to create when I feel like I haven’t been as creative in a while. It’s like stretching to re-connect with your body. The practice of cutting and assembling paper is more than just assembling paper of course. It’s just a practice in trusting your decision making really.

It reconnects me to what making anything actually is.
You don’t really “design” a collage. You don’t start with a concept. You start by ripping out pages that speak to you in some hidden language. Then you select the shapes or forms or objects, again solely by letting your mind and body do its thing. Then you start looking at the pieces. You move them around. You try things. You follow what feels right.

And then, at some point, the thing starts making itself. You’ve brought forward the pieces, then by pushing them around, something actually comes to life. I love this so much because it’s just making something from nothing. It’s just pieces of paper when you start, but then at the end it’s a reflection of a conversation with your own trust. I think these little practices are so important. We can get so caught up and distanced from that. It’s important to remember what instinct actually feels like.

That’s the work. Or rather the play. The floooowwww.
The arranging.
The assembly.
The moment when you recognize that it feels right for you. Not because it makes sense, but because it feels like it does. And especially not because someone else said so. Only you, your feeling, and your hands moving.

Tiny trust in yourself practices are the best. Also, just an easy way to start creating motion. Sometimes the mind makes us hesitate, but the hands and body just keep doing.