Emily Truman, an entrepreneur and artist has found solace in creating works of art with pre-existing images and transforming them into a visual medley that speaks to the soul and is appealing to the eye. Collage is the name of this art form and Emily has been creating pieces professionally for the last few years.
She discovered the art of collage as a child. She often found herself on the floor with old magazines, cutting out images and words that struck a chord and from there, she would take the images and plaster her notebooks for school and poster board to hang on the wall. Throughout adolescence, Emily dove deep into other forms of art like photography, drawing, and painting. It wasn’t until her young adulthood when her friend, a single mother who needed creative human interaction to keep her sane, invited her over to collage in her garage that her true passion for collaging came to fruition. The first collage she created was of Jesus holding up an acrobatic woman doing a split and standing on top of a shiny CD. She knew then that this was something she needed to explore again.
When asked about what inspires her collaging Emily says she’s faced immense challenges in the last decade of her life but has an incredible support system and counts herself lucky for that.
“I try to face my challenges through collage with irony and humor. I take loss and trauma very seriously in real life, so my collages are a way for me to punch some humor into the situation, allowing me to deal with it in an alternative way. Collage has helped to heal me.”
Many of Emily’s pieces showcase the human body in its natural form, some critics have deemed this to be very provocative. She says that to many individuals, nudity equates to sex. Through this realization, she’s made it her personal mission to either make fun of this notion or to disprove it.
“I have found, [most of PA] does not like nude bodies being shown as it has been deemed inappropriate or makes the viewer uncomfortable. I want to make you uncomfortable at times. I also want to teach women and men to not be afraid of the natural form. Bodies are so, so beautiful!”
Through this passion, Emily has found success. Her artwork has been displayed in various galleries ranging from NYC to Philadelphia and even locally in Lancaster. She’s also done commissioned work for musicians and small businesses.
If you’re interested in checking out her artwork, you can view her original pieces on Instagram @collage_dropout. Want to learn more about Emily? Check out this mini-doc here: https://vimeo.com/246179317
