Manual collage is, for me, the most unusual journey, one that I enjoy every day. The essence is in the paper, the photograph, the elements of nature, the anachronistic objects and a long etcetera, materials that I find anywhere from flea markets to old bookshops and auctions.
Instinct guides me. I work with everything at the same time, I turn the studio upside down, I open boxes and drawers, I stir everything up and, then, I have the feeling of knowing which box contains what I am looking for. My visual memory is there when I start a collage. I immerse myself among photos, my fetish instruments, three scissors and three architectural scalpels always by my side. Then comes the definitive and meditative moment of cutting.
Sometimes the image I need and seek for does not appear, but I find another one that captivates me and the path leads me somewhere else. Other times, unexpected discoveries appear and then, inevitably, they look for their place in the collage. Others, I perceive a spark between the images and go on to assemble all the pieces, methodically.
Then come the flowers and the plants, which at first are untied and end up coming together to create a story. Other times I am assailed by the physical qualities of ordinary objects, pieces of ‘life’ from which one can find no purpose and yet end up forming an integral part in the collage.
I try to juxtapose the least number of elements. Black and white photography is the most humble option, the most unobtrusive. In them I find a life story, a narrative, a moment of silence and stillness that makes me dream. There is in them an approach to everyday life so subtle and elegant that it allows me to create a new and unusual image with spaces and identities that have already disappeared. I am moved by the nostalgia they instigate.
I never know what enigmatic juxtaposition will come out of it. I don’t plan. I don’t preconceive. I enjoy the ambiguity, the uncertainty of not having fixed rules. I live every moment with the doubt that is intrinsic in the creative process and, at the same time, with something that excites me.
Manual collage offers me the chance to experience day by day the connection between the imaginary and the dreamed, what could have existed in reality and the alternative narrative world that is being created between my hands. Being overwhelmed with emotion signals the end of the piece. The pleasure of silence in the presence of paper and scissors is always infinite.
