Soul Collage I

I'm taking a Soul Collage course at The Hive. I've always enjoyed collage, so the class seemed right up my alley. 

During the class, we mostly spend 2-3 hours collaging; cutting paper and putting the pieces together. The difference between Soul Collage and regular collaging is that the end results give you a picture of what's happening in your internal life. You get there by selecting images by intuition as opposed to affinity. Meaning you don't pick images you like, but pictures that call you for whatever reason. Likewise, when piecing images together, it's not about composition or storytelling. You just place the pieces together as your gut leads. 

It's a freeing practice considering I'm so used to driving toward a destination I already have in mind in my daily design work. In Soul Collage, the end is unknown until you finish; once the pieces are together, and your intuition tells you it's complete. 

Another thing that's liberating is that it's not about perfection or competition. It's merely about connecting to and expressing where you are in the present moment. Again, quite a relief for a designer who always wants to get the solution just right and compares himself to others.

In my first week, I produced seven images. That's a crazy amount for me. It seems my soul has much to say. While I wish I could you the final results, participants are encouraged not to share their images because they are a vulnerable glimpse into one's soul. I dig that. Once again another liberating idea in a world that rewards showing off our seemingly perfect creations/lives.

Organized images. 

All of our images together.