How Childhood Cutouts Led Me Back to Art

I remember that when I was a child, there were piles and piles of magazines in my house. Most of them were fashion magazines bought by my sisters, but we also had thick decor magazines. Throughout the month, I would flip through them a lot, finish them, and then start again because, just like with a book, each re-reading reveals something new.

Since I always felt fascinated by the images in them, one day I decided to cut out anything that caught my attention and intuitively glue it onto a piece of cardboard. By that time, I was around 11 years old, and that became one of my favorite activities.

When my sister brought a new magazine home, she would usually warn me “Let me read it before you cut it up!” I couldn’t wait for that, I already had my scissors, cardboard, and glue ready. Then, I started adding color strokes to my pieces, making them more fun, and I discovered how to delicately cut out entire pages from the magazine so that (I thought) my sister wouldn’t notice they had ever existed.

I don’t think I realized at the time that what I was making was collage.

I wish I had kept at least one of my pieces, but unfortunately, a few years later, one of my sisters threw them all away. For over 10 years, I didn’t make another one and I had even forgotten I used to do it—until last year. I’m glad to say that now that I’ve resumed this activity, it’s no longer just a hobby, but a passion and a motto in my life.