Untitled 1990

Rosemary Karuga built this scene out of cut-and-glued paper—those little rectangles of colour, tone, and texture. They accumulate to give us a pair of figures in an embrace, positioned in front of what might be a landscape or the side of a building. I love to think about what it might have been like to make this. Maybe the paper was sourced from magazines, newspapers, or coloured paper, and each tiny fragment was carefully selected and placed to create the forms and patterns we see. Look closely and you'll see the original printed text, half-obscured. See how the rough edges of the cut paper add a tactile quality to the collage. Karuga had a great eye for colour, and a sensitivity to the interaction between colour, form, and space. The relationship between the subjects suggests warmth, affection, and the universal connections between people. It's a timeless theme, made from today's news. Artists like Karuga were onto something, an early form of upcycling, with artistic, ecological and conceptual intentions all rolled into one.