Butterflies and machinery

In my collage, I wanted to express how I see God in every part of my life. The shapes that the pictures are cut into are especially representative of this to me. I see myself as surrounded by a careful design, thought out from the beginning like a machine, although I am ever changing. The butterflies are representative of metamorphosis; they also have to do with the fragile nature of life, and of freedom in Christ. The gears are an overarching plan, a careful design. The bottom gear is the past, and the top is the present. The metallic and sepia colors are meant to make them appear old, as if they are thought out from thousands of years ago and in effect in me today. The black can be interpreted as the darkness of the past, and even perhaps the reality of sin, but it is not in control, and it is fading into light every day. I did not want the picture to feel too incredibly cluttered, so the black and white make up a somewhat large portion of the picture, to help draw attention to each individual element. 

• Light - The light areas of the collage are what is important, the black area is what the rest is coming out of, triumphing over.
• Texture – I tried to use paint to create an aged, metallic texture over the gears without covering the pictures. The sepia tone of the pictures is meant to add to the feel of old metal. The repeating teeth of the gears also are a pattern to help draw your eye across the picture.
• Volume – The pictures on my arm are arranged to mimic the actual shading of my reference photo of my arm and make it look more three dimensional.
• Line – There is a diagonal line created by the arm and the butterflies above and below it. The curving lines of the gears also create a triangle meant to draw your eye to the other side of the collage.
• Space – The landscape pictures and the perspective shot of the street in the background of the gears are meant to feel somewhat like windows to other places, and the black and white background of the rest of the collage is meant to create contrast and light. The gears are about mid-ground, and the arm and butterflies are in the foreground.
• Size - The largest butterfly at the top of the hand is the most important butterfly, and the gears are very large to indicate their importance as well.
• Symbolism - The butterflies, as I said, are symbolic of change, freedom, and fragility. The gears are symbolic of a higher plan and design, and the top one (my life) is affected by the bottom one (history, Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection). In the small butterfly nearest to the center of the bottom gear, there is a spider and a fedora. Those two objects are symbolic of people in my past that I had to give over to God, and ultimately become better with that decision. The objects have to do with a specific memory of each of those people.
• You – Inside each of the butterflies is part of me, of what I am interested in. There is painting, fantasy, The Lord of the Rings, video games, piano and music, and most importantly, Jesus and the Bible at the very top. Many of the butterflies are filled with my own pieces of artwork, since they are almost literally pieces of me and are very important to me. The central shape of my arm is the more literal representation of me in the collage.
• Friends and Family – Covering the arm like a glove are pictures of my closest friends and my family. They have all deeply affected me and helped shape me into who I am today, so I thought it fitting to have them make up the part of the collage that is meant to be me.
• Town, community, school – The outer part of the top gear, which is again representative of my life and where I am today, is partly made up of pictures of pictures of Belmont and pictures of some of my favorite places in Nashville. The middle part of the gear is filled with members from my church, specifically the youth group worship team, which I have be a part of for several years.
• Country – This is also incorporated into the top gear, as it is a part of who I am. The boy is a friend of mine whom I have a long history with, he is now serving our country in the Air Force, and is very proud of it.
• Art – Art is everywhere in this collage. My paintings are in the butterflies, and the bottom gear is filled with more classical paintings. I photoshopped some of the pictures and painted directly on the collage. I love, it is one of the more important things in my life, and few things make me happier than being able to create things with my hands and my eyes. It is also represented in a commercial way with the poster of The Lord of the Rings and the video game concept art that I worked into the collage. Art is everywhere, whether fine, personal, or commercial.
• History - The bottom gear is representative of history. More specifically, the most important historical figure who I think has affected the world and me: Jesus Christ. Art has been used to represent His life throughout history, and the picture of him in the butterfly was painted by me. His life and what He did is what sets my life in motion, like the bottom gear turns the top gear. I do not mean to be preachy, this is just honestly what I believe is true and what defines me.

I apologize for the long answers, I put a lot of thought into this, so it’s difficult to explain in one or two sentences per point.