Documenting the noise of crows in urban Edinburgh
Following from the previous mock-up triptych depicting simply the word ‘CAW’ on three different coloured backgrounds, I decided to use further visual elements to document the calling of crows.
Inspired by the arrangement of elements in the collage work of Kurt Schwitters, I wanted to document the overarching sound of the crows which are present in my area, and which I see often
Kurt Schwitters: ‘Magic’, printed papers on paper, 131 × 106 mm, (c.1936-40)
Initially, I created a physical collage using found paper pieces, blank polaroids, leaves and tape, arranged on a plain sheet of craft card:
Edward Cawood: untitled, polaroid, paper and leaf on card, 145mm x 180mm, (2020)
Although this collage used elements which I found successful, I find it too messy, and the varying textures are not as coherent together as I had imagined. In response, I decided to create a further collage, using very similar elements but using photoshop to get the desired neatness:
Edward Cawood: ‘CaW’ – mixed media digital collage, (2020)
CaW features a scanned leaf, a blank (black) polaroid, semi-transparent white strips and strips from a black and white photograph of a building on the street from my window. Over these elements the word CaW is spelt out using the same cut out letters from the central frame from the previous mock-up triptych. These pieces are arranged on a scan of craft card.
I wanted to include the image of my street in Edinburgh as this is one of the places which I regularly hear crows.
Using photoshop allowed me to achieve the clean look I was looking for, and allowed for greater manipulation of the elements without permanently damaging them. However, it does lack the textural element found in the physical collage.
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