Fine Art nominee

Analogue collage on khadi paper loosely inspired by the painting “The Duchess of Urbino” by Renaissance painter Piero della Francesca. This image evolved from an ongoing series of analogue collages of my daughter using only scraps. The profile pose kept reminding me of some iconic Renaissance portraits and I decided to create a portrait using exclusively photographic scraps from hand printed photographs that had already been cut out for other collages. I used to print my own b&w photographs back in the analogue days and I have a big pile of prints that I now use for my collages. I like the idea of recycling, so I created this image only with what I had available. The scraps used are from all sorts of pictures depicting among others: musical instruments, vintage furniture, my grandparents' blanket, wooden carvings, a statue from a London cemetery and even the internal lining of my grandfather's coffin. I then scanned the collage and did some very minimal retouching – I wasn't after the polished look of digital collages and wanted to retain the rough feel of the analogue process.

I have had a love affair with photography for a very long time. It started in the 90s, when everything was still analogue. I used to spend hours in the darkroom, experimenting with all the different papers, just watching the magic happen. Then the advent of digital photography and changes in personal circumstances moved my focus away from photography for a while. When I discovered collage during the pandemic, it was almost a lightbulb moment: I could get my hands dirty again and be inspired to shoot new images to incorporate into my collages.

Selection of recent published work (2022-23)
Contemporary Collage Magazine - issues #6, #8, #15, #22 and #25
Solo Collage Italia (book on Italian collage artists, Psicografici Editore)
Lab Collage - Faces of collages (publication for World Collage Day)
Polaroids Collage Club - Memories of you (publication for World Collage Day)

Selected exhibitions and awards
Mar-23 - Cutout Festival - The genesis of being (Lviv)
May-23 - Coupee Collage Collective (Gent)
Jun-23 - Centre for fine art photography - Revisiting the family album (virtual exhibition). Selection for exhibition and Director’s Honorable Mention
Jul-23 - Vayo Collage Gallery - New dimensions in collage (Lyons, New York)