Nicolette Callaway

How It Began

 

I have been cutting paper since I was a child, but my collages began to take their current form in 2009, when I suffered a major injury. During my recovery process I began gardening and growing my own food, which is when I really began to listen to myself, inside my body, and started actually paying attention to my environment. I discovered a connection with the natural world that I had not experienced before, and I began to see the animals I encountered as spirit guides. These animals soon appeared in my artwork. Now I regularly honor those totem animals by representing them in my collages, surrounded by the four natural elements of earth, water, air and fire. I create my pieces out of magazine paper from celebrity gossip and fashion magazines, transforming that paper away from superficiality and consumerism into artwork that is about connection with our natural world and with each other.