©Twiggy Boyer, Autumnal Breeze, mixed-media collage, 11×14″, 2021

This week, we will be exploring projects that use the found photograph. Today, we’ll be looking at Twiggy Boyer’s series Fragments & Houses.

Twiggy Boyer’s images have been one of my recent obsessions. I found it on Instagram through her online photography magazine, Photo Trouvée Magazine, where she is a co-founder. The images are some of the most intriguing and detailed little spaces. Her use of color and handmade patterns reminds me of vintage wallpaper, pulling together the full nostalgic and domestic feel.

Her series Fragments & Houses gives new narratives to vintage images. The women in her series hold so much emotion and feeling. The landscapes are subtle yet ethereal like waking up from a dream or attempting to remember a memory from childhood. I highly recommend checking out her organization of materials and processes on her Instagram – it’s a collage artist’s dream!

Twiggy Boyer is best known for her nostalgic mixed media collages often created using vintage found photographs. Boyer’s mixed media works explore themes of nostalgia, memories and connections and incorporate collage elements, drawing and painting. Born and raised in Paris, France, Twiggy studied painting and curatorial studies at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD and graduated with a BFA in 2012. Boyer has been a part of a number of group exhibitions most notably at the Coral Springs Museum of Art and at Yale University, and has permanent works collected in the Doug & Laurie Kanyer Art Collection. Over the last 10 years, Twiggy Boyer has worked as a teaching artist in the museum education setting, as a full time elementary art teacher and in the form of teaching adult collage workshops. In February of 2020, Twiggy co-founded Photo Trouvée Magazine– a digital art publication that showcases contemporary artists who use found photographs as a medium in their works. She currently works and resides in South Florida with her daughter and partner.

Follow Twiggy on Instagram at: @twiggyboyerart

©Twiggy Boyer, Blue Longing, mixed-media collage, 20×16″, 2021

Fragments & Houses

My works seek to investigate themes of memory, connections and nostalgia. Using carefully curated found photographs as collage elements, I explore how my own recollections and experiences are often similar to another person’s. I work with forgotten photographs gathered from dusty thrift shops that I feel deeply connected to. I aim to relate the small moments captured in the images to my own memories in a sort of familiar parallel. The patterns, layers and repeating images in my mixed media collages become a visual representation of memories over time—adding and removing, sometimes blurred or influenced, fragments of images are cut, torn and collaged onto paper intuitively. Floral elements often find their way into the works to further illustrate the fragility and ephemeral qualities of memories and to bring symbolism to the pieces often referencing the principles of Victorian Floriography. My hope is to invite viewers to make a connection to their own memories and to encourage a nostalgic and emotional response, ultimately creating a bond between us. Borrowing aspects from the memory of others, I mold them into my own and aim to create new ones for others to borrow from.

©Twiggy Boyer, Champ de Fleurs II, mixed-media collage, 11×14″, 2021

Epiphany Knedler: How did your project come about?

Twiggy Boyer: My maternal grandmother had a small photo album that I loved flipping through when I was younger. It was a way for me to see bits and pieces of my great-grandparents’ lives before it was taken from them during the Holocaust and the beginning of an ongoing investigation of where I came from and who I was. During my senior year of college, I began using family and found photographs in my work. First as an exploration into my familial roots which then developed organically over time as an investigation into memories–mine and other’s–connection through universal experiences often seen captured in photographs and nostalgia.

©Twiggy Boyer, Fleeting, mixed-media collage, 9×12″, 2021

EK: Do you manipulate the images in any way? Why or why not?

TB: I scan, edit (enhance clarity and quality) and reprint most of the original found photographs I work with which allows me to work on a larger scale. For smaller works, I use the original photograph and don’t manipulate them digitally in any way.

©Twiggy Boyer, Home, mixed-media collage with cut paper, 2020

EK: Can you tell us about your artistic practice?

TB: My practice is very intuitive and relies heavily on feelings and emotional response. I don’t usually sketch or plan out pieces, rather, I allow my emotions and memories to guide me as I work.

©Twiggy Boyer, Houses, mixed-media collage, 12×9″, 2021

©Twiggy Boyer, It’s a Good Day, mixed-media collage, 4×6″, 2021

©Twiggy Boyer, Jardin Céleste, mixed-media collage, 11×14″, 2021

©Twiggy Boyer, Portal, mixed-media collage, 9×12″, 2021

©Twiggy Boyer, Springtime Roses, mixed-media collage, 16″ diameter, 2021

©Twiggy Boyer, Sweetness, mixed media collage with hand-embroidered baby bonnet, 16×10″, 2022

©Twiggy Boyer, Trois Maisons, mixed-media collage, 11×14, 2021

©Twiggy Boyer, Tu Me Manques, mixed-media collage, 11×14″, 2021

©Twiggy Boyer, Cocoon, mixed-media collage, 12×9″, 2022

Epiphany Knedler is an imagemaker sharing stories of American life. Using Midwestern aesthetics, she creates images and installations exploring histories. She is based in Aberdeen, South Dakota serving as an Adjunct Instructor and freelancer. Her work has been exhibited with Lenscratch, Dek Unu Arts, F-Stop Magazine, and Photolucida Critical Mass. She is the co-founder of MidwestNice Art.

Follow Epiphany Knedler on Instagram: @epiphanysk