"The Night We Met" Acrylic and Collage on Canvas, original piece found/thrifted @ Miss Mangos Artist Bio: Gigi began her career as a mixed-media collage artist after attending an acting conservatory in New York City, where she lived until the pandemic relocated her back to her hometown in Florida in 2020. With the acting world shut down, she began to use visual art as a creative outlet and has not looked back since. Artist Statement: I am a mixed media collage artist, using mainly just paper and glue to explore the intersection of our thoughts and the external world. My work reflects my fascination with the way humans have adapted and how each are the main characters in their own lives, yet there are millions of other main characters living their own separate journey at the same time. I like to explore the connection, the tension, the myriad of moments between all of these stories and perspectives existing as one. When I collage, I typically begin by gathering materials that reflect the mood of the story I am telling within a piece. From there, multiple layers begin and one story transforms into many. I build up the artwork with layers of acrylic medium and hundreds of carefully cut out images from books, magazines, etc. My goal is to evoke a sense of introspection and familiarity to the viewer's own life, while also eliciting thoughts about our connection to nature, our relationships, and the effects of our actions. Through my artwork, I aspire to stimulate a feeling of peace within the chaos, and perhaps help people reflect on their own stories as my process is sharing mine through collage.