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Behold Altered States of Reality By David Rosenberg Posted Thursday, Feb 14, 2013, at 04:00 PM ET Popel Coumou has a multilayered view of reality—literally. The Dutch photographer/multimedia artist uses collage as a way of expressing, and often altering, her idea of reality. "I had an assignment to look for a two-dimensional image, to make it three-dimensional and then make it two-dimensional again," said Coumou about how she began making the collages. Coumou's process begins with a photograph and then incorporates additional elements such as a house, a swing, or a chair she makes out of clay, paper, fabric, or plastic which are then placed behind the original image and backlit so they appear on the print in an almost ghostlike manner. Coumou then photographs the original image with the additional elements to complete the process. "I'm always taking pictures, and when I have an idea of what I want to do, I print out all the images … and suddenly I see what I have to do with the image; it's an intuitive process," explained Coumou. Much of her process is about pushing the borders of reality. "I always wanted to cross borders of reality so I would exaggerate a shape within an image—I wanted to see what could exist within daily life or what we would accept as reality," said Coumou. Last year, Coumou published her first book, Untitled, which contains 21 of her images created over an eight-year period after her graduation from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. "We wanted to design it in a very simple and ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate What We Can Learn About Gun Control From the Oscar Pistorius Shooting The Triple-Pane Windows Theory Help! My Kid Is a Picky Eater and I Am Freaking Out!	Advertisement
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