A Longing For Renewal and Peace
Revelations From A Giraffe Collage
I stared at these two collages after I’d eaten my chia bowl for breakfast. Last night, after working on the first creative challenge of the year with Paris Collage Collective and being somewhat pleased with the results, something was missing but I couldn’t pinpoint it. Although I intended to iterate further, my brain was in low-batt mode. I’ve had a long day so I promised to revisit them this morning.
After a few mental deliberations, I decided to start from scratch. While studying the giraffe’s head more closely, I noticed a slight curvature between its eyes and nose. Hmm….perhaps I could find a circular object that could slot in that space. I had done some sphere studies from a few years ago.
Could it work?
I perused several options until I picked one suitable for this assemblage. My intuition stirred after I paired the giraffe’s head with the glass sphere. Something was beginning to form in my mind. While searching for more images, my eyes landed on a black vintage handset from a rotary phone. I placed it atop the sphere, slightly tilting it for composition. Pleased with what I had so far, I continued with the thought of adding an object conveying “speech.” I selected a photograph of a torn piece of illegible magazine text and rested its bottom tip on the receiver. Finally, I needed a background–a high-key, atmospheric landscape. At first, locating it proved elusive, but I persisted, and the right one eventually surfaced.
With a firm grasp of a theme, I knew how to reiterate one of the collages from the night before and brought it up on my screen. I positioned the glass sphere between the giraffe and the man then changed the background from a city to a mountainous landscape.
The results were more powerful than I had anticipated.
I sense a longing for unity among us and with Mother Earth. Perhaps the first collage is a plea to anyone who will listen to this longing. Maybe it’s the longing of our collective hearts for unity, renewal, and peace.
In some traditions, the appearance of a spirit animal serves as a guide. A giraffe symbolizes kindness, tranquility, and wisdom. It also embodies quiet strength and harmony between mind and body.
These two collages have so much more to convey. I seem to lack the words to eloquently match the visuals. Instead, let me leave you some ample space for your interpretations and/or meditations about them.
Over the holidays, I remember coming across this image by Ami Vitale at the 10th Anniversary of the Big Picture Competition hosted at the California Academy of Sciences.
By osmosis, I am certain it inspired me.
Lastly, let me share Ami’s uplifting video featuring the caretakers at the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary in Kenya.
As always, let’s meet each other in the comments section below. Let me know if anything resonates with you.
See you all next Sunday!
For some reason I come back to the second collage. The giraffe looks like it is lost in the city and the man is telling her how to find her way back to nature. The giraffe looks at him and listens carefully.
The others are visually very appealing to though! Well done!
Such a gorgeous post, Stella - what a treat! I love giraffes - I couldn't believe how graceful they were when I saw them in the wild, because I'd always imagined them as ungainly. As such a tall girl I had always identified with giraffes, and I remember having been utterly thrilled to see how very beautifully they move.
I've really enjoyed reading your description of your art process - absolutely fascinating, and the end results, as always, are stunning.