Making of Creative Wasteland

Creative Wasteland (2015-2020) Digital Collage.

A visual reminder of the crippling feeling of inaction.

The sketch borderlines doodle territory with some thoughts written around it.

Most of the time I don’t know how I’ll use the photos I take; Creative Wasteland is a good example, the idea came to me about two years after all the photos had been taken. 

My first attempt felt a little barren and hopeless as though I would never pull myself out of this void.

I started again. This time sketching a “concept” layer in photoshop. While working I turned this layer on and off to guide my process.

I used a photo I’d taken in 2016 of the milky way, mirrored the image and flipped it upside down, to create the sky.

Using photos I’d taken in the spring of 2017 I was able to create an important element, the road. It represents opportunity and our ability to choose a different path.

I wanted the illusion of a mirage.  A false barrier, a belief obstacle, separating me from choosing a new path. 

To build the foreground I used photos taken in summer of 2017. Each stump represents a dead idea. A reminder of the effects of fear and inaction.

Limp, tired, and unable to move, I hunched over one of my almost dead ideas. A small amount of grass growing, a nudge for change. Am I willing to grow?

Self portrait captured on the island of Oahu, HI spring 2016.

Love E