Untitled (Woman and Child) 1998

Rosemary Karuga made this "Untitled (Woman and Child)" collage, and you know, working with found materials like she does here is such an interesting process. Karuga’s use of torn newspaper and magazine pieces reminds me that artmaking is as much about subtraction and destruction as it is about building things up. I love how she doesn't try to hide the source material; you can still see the text and fragments of images peeking through. It is almost as if she’s saying, “Here’s the world, bits and pieces of it, reassembled into something new.” Look at the way she’s constructed the figures, layering shapes to create depth and shadow. It’s almost Cubist, like a flattened, collaged Picasso! Karuga reminds me of Romare Bearden, in that both artists find ways to elevate everyday materials into something profound. Art is always this conversation, a back-and-forth across time and space, and the best art embraces ambiguity. There is no one right answer here, just possibilities.