Babyscapes

The pieces in this show were completed during my 2011-12 sabbatical leave from my position as Associate Professor at Eastern Oregon University. During this time I traded in my familiar oil paints in exchange for photos, magazines, scissors, and glue to create a group of collages depicting my infant daughter in a variety of surreal settings. The scenes were created using old doll-maker’s magazines, National Geographic magazines, Italian interior design magazines, and brochures for Canadian provincial parks and Tuscan tourism; combined with my own photos of the baby. The result is a strange world combining illogical spaces and multiple perspectives; alternately magical, disturbing, and beautiful. For me, these landscapes reflect the range of hopes and fears surrounding both childhood and child-rearing. 

​My work is driven by the technical challenge of piecing together intricate parts to create a cohesive whole. The transitions are never actually flawless, as closer inspection reveals sharp edges and layers of overlapping images from disparate sources. I find poetry in this complex relationship between the whole and the parts; where small pieces of imagery come together to form something altogether different and new. As a mother, I wish for all the complicated facets of society to come together harmoniously for my daughter’s safe passage. The Babyscapes collages render that impossible wish visible. 

Jessica Plattner, 2012