Life Is a Collage

Artist Dessislava Terzieva

The best things in life find you. Collage is my first love, my therapist, my gateway medium— it came into my life and revolutionized it.

Similar to my indifference to online dating, you won’t find me sifting through the internet searching for the “perfect” parts to a predetermined whole. Too many options - not enough magic. I believe in serendipity, and this belief, in part, was influenced by years of playing with paper, scissors and glue.

My collages are composed of pre-existing elements found in vintage books and magazines. Without a plan, I engage in a playful process of mixing and matching to organically bring out everything that needs to be released. In order to do so, I am forced to relinquish my need for control in favor of being open to signs and correlations, while always leaving room for spontaneity. As a result, each work ends up being a visual diary, giving an intimate glimpse into my life at the moment of creation.

There is always tension between a combination that “makes sense”, and one that “feels right." While my natural inclination is to go with the former, trial and error has taught me to have faith in the latter. In art, like in life, anything too controlled is contrived, and lacks the spirit of being truly alive.

By rearranging pre-existing imagery into new configurations, their lifespan is prolonged and their destiny altered - or is it simply illuminated? How is it that these disparate elements from different times, places, and spaces come together to create a reality that seems as if it had always been that way?

A successful collage is one which feels meant to be. It makes you question whether I had any real role in its existence - did I? I often ask myself the same thing:

Is this not fate? Or am I just a hopeful romantic in a pragmatic world?