Artwork Archive “Would You Use Your Family's Archive in Your Art—Even if It Meant Letting It Go?” by Frank Reynolds

"Once a piece leaves my studio and goes to someone’s collection, these pieces of family history are also leaving my studio.”

There’s something both generous and harrowing about Emily Hoerdemann’s approach to art-making.

“A lot of my collage materials are from my own family," the collagist explains. "And rather than making copies, the original photographs, thread, cookbooks, sewing notions, and other materials are pasted on the page."

Like many artists, the Los Angeles-based collagist draws inspiration from her own family history. But she doesn’t stop there: she literally incorporates these scraps of her family’s past, piece by irreplaceable piece, into her complexly layered artworks.

That means that when collectors purchase her collages, they’re also becoming the caretakers of someone else’s intimate past.

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