Marek Mery
My Family History Flag
My collage, which I have named My Family History Flag, was inspired by my family and its heritage. I made my collage using an 8 ½ x 11 inch piece of tan-colored paper as its base, translucent blue acetate paper, red construction paper, cutouts from the New York Times Style Magazine (Winter 2006 edition), and finally, family photographs.
My collage is a short story about my family and its background. I used acetate and construction paper to create the two flags that are the background of my collage; the flag on top is that of the Czech Republic (my mom’s homeland), and the flag on the bottom is that of Slovakia (my dad’s homeland). The code of arms next to the photograph of my dad is part of the Slovakian flag. For the flags, I decided to use clear blue paper to add energy and excitement into the collage, because I felt that plain blue construction paper was too dull. I glued a photograph of a much younger version of myself onto the middle of my collage, and the portion above my photograph is dedicated to my mom and her side of the family, while the portion below my photograph is dedicated to my dad and his side of the family.
I used the plane in my photograph to show that traveling is a very large part of my family life. Finally, even though my family is from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, my parents and I love living in New York City, so when I saw the letter “i†and the heart in a magazine, I had to use it to express my love for New York City.
One of my favorite things about the collage is that it is a family web; all of the pictures and ideas branch out from the center. There is a photograph of myself at the center, representing the youngest generation of my family, while older generations of my family are shown towards the edges of the collage.
December 16th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
I liked how the red, blue, and white colors helped to unify your collage. The piece clearly shows your respect and remembrance of your heritage. At the same time though, the I love NY and the airplane, reflect your identifying with America. Having actual family photographs in the collage, makes it very sweet and personal looking. The idea of having it spread out according to age was also a good one.
December 16th, 2006 at 6:57 pm
NY Times Style mag! I have that at home!
Anyway, I really like how you’ve taken the conventional “I Love NY” slogan and turned it into something new. The leopard print really adds pizazz to the city (not that the city needs pizazz!) =)
I find it interesting how you’ve placed yourself in between flags, getting the best of both worlds. In a way, your collage kind of reminds me of Max’s in that you are the ego, and from you is everything else. Awesome.
Btw, is that your dog? It’s so cute!