02/19/2026
I found this interesting and made me think of you guys .glassman
with .repost
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For Lesley Finn, there’s no difference between making a collage and writing an essay. Both are fragments in search of order.
She learned to write research papers using index cards—one idea per card, laid out and rearranged until they formed an argument. That’s collage. She still writes this way, using software to move segments around and discover unexpected connections.
Her favorite essays involved literal collage: printing pages, cutting them apart with scissors, taping fragments together in new orders. During her MFA in creative writing, she studied screenwriting and learned a rule she now applies to visual work: “Arrive late and get out early.” Give viewers just enough to grasp a feeling, then let them wonder.
Lesley dropped out of a PhD program in medieval literature because she “couldn’t get close enough to the materiality.” Now she works with archives, erasure, photocopies, and found imagery—treating writing and collage as the same practice.
“Collage is intrinsic to consciousness. It’s mark making, sensemaking, on a deep, mysterious level. It helps us reflect on how we process and create knowledge. We need that right now.”
Read the full conversation with Lesley Finn () by Beatriz Paz Jiménez ()—link in bio.
