The three motifs I used in my collage are longing, desire, and life. My background image*, which is a cityscape/landscape with clouds blocking the sun, represents longing. To me, the sun (and the city) seemed very far away from my perspective. After realizing how distant the two were, I was even more enticed by the view. The first image I applied onto the background consists of a woman. The entire photograph** was inspired by the famous portrait Countess d’Haussonville by Ingres, and it represents sensuality. The light and shadows on the skin, the dreamy gaze, the feather fan, and the bold red of the ribbon in the subject’s hair symbolize desire. In the last image, there are two puppets that I focus on***. Although they are not living characters, they are ironic images of life because they act as living people.

In the collage, I placed the portrait of the female on the landscape so that some of the sunlight shows through behind her head, which is to emphasize the idea of an unattainable desire. Then I placed the two puppets to the left of the female, and I added strings (extracted from the puppet photograph as well) to parts of the female’s body to make her represent a puppet as well – what I initially came up with was that although she appears to be very different from the two puppets (she is more human), she can actually be considered a puppet herself because she is an instrument of desire. Therefore, the presence of the two puppets can be interpreted as the reminder that the female figure is no different from them. After, in the process of taking the collage apart, I focused most on taking the strings away from the female as she slowly vanishes.

Of course, there is always room for other kinds of interpretations! Please tell me what you thought.

Midpoint: Constructed Collage

*Photograph taken on a roof in Queens, NY

**Photograph was taken during a photo shoot.

***Photograph was taken at Macy’s 2012 Christmas window.