Paula Mans

Paula Mans tells the many stories of the global Black experience through collage. The artist views collage as emblematic of the cultural and historical interconnectedness of the African Diaspora. Just as the dispersed people of the Diaspora are tied together by the common thread of ancestry, in collage, disjointed pieces are fused to communicate one story. In her analog collage works, Paula draws from images of people from across the Diaspora – deconstructing, bonding, and resignifying small parts to assemble new faces and forms that communicate identity and shared experiences. Paula Mans creates figurative collages that engage in visual discourse surrounding the (in)visibility and agency of people of African descent. The works subvert notions of power through the Gaze. Rather than being images to be viewed and consumed, the figures look defiantly out onto the world – engaging, confronting, and challenging the viewer.

Click the images below to view at full size.

The descriptions and prices below are arranged in the same order as the images