Katrien de Blauwer is a Belgian artist who calls herself a “photographer without a camera”. Her chosen medium is found imagery: she collects and recycles images from old magazines and papers to re-purpose in her work. She has several published books showcasing these talents and her work evokes the style of photomontage. She often obscures the identities of the people in the images she uses, either by cutting it out of the image, using paint or marker pen, or else covering it up with another image entirely. This generates a sense of anonymity that allows any individual to “recognise oneself in the story,” as her website states. She has quite a distinctive use of form and shapes, using strong lines to contrast or match two images together.

I particularly like this image because of the contrast between nature and humans. The way de Blauwer used the clear lines of the trees to lead down into the people’s legs in the bottom half of the image is interesting and also slightly humorous, as it creates an impression of a sort-of half-man half-tree being. It is also a fairly sweet image, as it can be assumed from how close the people are standing that they are a couple. The fact that she took these images from magazines and newspapers speaks to her skill and artistic eye, and shows her dedication to creating interesting and engaging photographs that showcase the best parts of their original pieces.