collage invites us to reimagine, reconfigure, and put things together in a never-before-seen assemblage. collage invites us to tear off the ugly fucking head of the snake, and replace it with something immense and beautiful. collage invites us to be surprised - to be ready to be surprised - at how well these things can go together. collage invites us to hold our vision in our hands with care. collage invites us to build upon what others are already making & working towards. collage invites us to make the future ours.
i like to take these lessons from collage & let them inform action outside of my art practice, though these two facets feel increasingly un-untangleable.
for example, i tried to take part in this year’s februllage collage challenge and it felt too frivolous most days. and not just too frivolous to share, but too frivolous to DO. I tried, and always came back to: “what is the purpose of this? what is it teaching me? what is it teaching others? what ripples can it have beyond me?”. collaged words of freedom, of dreaming, of better futures, kept finding their way into my pieces.
that’s not to say all our creative efforts have to be for others, for “purpose”. but right now it kind of does? doesn’t it? even if it’s just a matter of intentionally strengthening our imaginations & capacities to think creatively. even if it’s just to intentionally re-center, so that we can continue the good work towards liberation for all.
we have to piece things together to create the future we need: let’s take what we want from the good of today - the activism - the powerful corners of true and strong community - the creative thinking - the critical thinking - the mutual aid - the power of the people - the anarchists - the anti-capitalists - the abolitionists - the nuance - the land protectors. let’s assemble these things together, and let’s scrap the shit. together.
I am hosting an in-person collage workshop on Tuesday, March 26th and would love to see you there! The last one we did in December was a really wholesome, creative time spent in community. I’m really excited to bring that back just as we welcome Spring in the northern hemisphere! The space is located in Midtown, Toronto & is wheelchair accessible.
ps. this is a masks-mandatory event, as we are actively practicing covid-safety & community care ‘round these parts!
ICYMI and aren’t already a subscriber… this week I put out 5 “Imagination Booster” collage prompts, inspired by some of the musings above, and you can get them for free by singing up to follow this substack:
THANK YOU to everyone for following along - it has been months since I sent a lil love note out. now felt like the right moment to get back to it.
hugs, katia