Lately, I’ve been exploring the intersection between analogue and digital through a new body of abstract collage work. What begins on my studio table with layered gelli prints ends up evolving into striking compositions mixed with urban photography in Photoshop.
The base of each piece starts with gelli printing, a monoprinting method I love for its spontaneity and mark-making potential. I use acrylic paints and masks (often handmade stencils, leaves, or textured materials), building up layers of colour, texture, and transparent shapes. Once dry, I scan the prints at a high resolution — capturing all the subtle surface details, imperfections and textures.
From there, I move into Photoshop, where the real layering magic begins. I treat the scanned prints as raw material — cropping, rotating, and masking fragments to create a new digital composition. The physicality of the gelli textures gives the collage a sense of depth, even in a flat medium. It’s this blend of analogue and digital photography that excites me — using organic, hand-pulled marks to build something contemporary with a mix of photography.
Each work becomes a kind of puzzle. I often use geometric grids, overlapping frames, and subtle transparencies to guide the layout.. This hybrid process allows me to combine the unpredictability of printmaking with an urban photographic aesthetic.
I see these works as a continuation of my broader practice: balancing spontaneity and structure, tactility and invention. The scanned gelli prints hold traces of the studio — paint edges, fingerprints, torn paper — and I love how they combine with the abstract photography.
