"Fabrics Truly Torn:"
Chloe's Quarantine Collages

About

The Background

During my first week in quarantine, I spent a fair amount of time thinking about how best to fill the pages of my Dickinson journal. Still reeling from the whirlwind of having the rug swept out from under our collective feet, I couldn't imagine being able to distill any of my thoughts – on Dickinson or otherwise – into words yet. I've never considered myself much of a visual artist, so drawing was also out of the picture. This left the option of copying down poems, but that seemed like an insufficient way to record my present experience. Finally, I realized that an ideal way to document this strange spring would be through current newspaper and magazine articles. 

I began clipping feverishly, covering the entire dining room table with various strips and squares – much to the chagrin of my mother. I scanned every bit of paper that came though our house (The New York Times, my father's fishing magazines, travel brochures), looking for any phrases that reminded me of Dickinson or spoke to my current state. Partially inspired by Dickinson's own fragments, the project turned me into a textual magpie. Every day, I raided the recycling bin and delighted when I found headlines in perfect hymnal meter, sentences stuffed with volcanic tension, or – once, miraculously – a photo of Dickinson herself. 

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The 10 resulting collages represent the intersection between my takeaways from ENG 357 and my personal experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. The fabrics of all of our lives have been "truly torn" by this crisis, but this project – centered around tearing and snipping and reassembling – has "mended" mine a bit.