and yet

no guarantees can offer - analog collage on 8.5x11 cardstock

Hope is not a blissful ignorance. It is neither contented, nor unaware. Neither naively optimistic, nor thinking wishfully.

"[H]ope", Nick Cave says, "has an earned understanding of the sorrowful or corrupted nature of things".

these if only thoughts - analog collage on A5 paper

Hope knows all too well how fucked we are. How fucked-up everything is. How much more fucked it all could still be. And yet, hope, Cave says, "rises to attend to the world" anyway.

That's what hope is. The 'And-yet' of our existence.

moved by nothing more - analog collage on A5 paper

The world is broken. Hollowed-out and bleeding. It is being emptied, daily, of all compassion and empathy. And filled instead with the wretchedness of despicable things.

Reason says that it's hope-less. That's it's not worth saving. That there's not much left to believe in. And if we were honest with ourselves we'd have to admit that, to a greater or lesser extent, it's true.

But hope says "And yet", even still...

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P.S. - ICAD - Day 230 - 233 - The collages below and many others are available for purchase here.

walking collection of angles - analog collage on 4x6 index card

to find the root of fear - analog collage on 4x6 index card

The two index cards below were made as submissions for the next issue of Cut Me Up Magazine. Last week I made a video for my paid subscribers showing my process of making one of these.

if you are content with being - analog collage on 4x6 index card

when we close our eyes - analog collage on 4x6 index card

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P.P.S. - Speaking of Cut Me Up Magazine, I have a collage in the current issue.

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