Advertisements, calendars, photos, greeting cards, and other mail we receive every day can be white noise to our eyes. I found an artist, New York’s Sandhi Schimmel, who took all that junk and turned it into treasure. She collaged unneeded mail to create breathtaking mosaic portraits of women. Her brilliant use of color give these flat images great depth and detail. This is exactly what I love about photo mosaics,

Sandhi Schimmel’s junkmail photo mosaics

On her website, Schimmel elaborates on the deeper meaning behind her work:

“My work reflects society’s obsession with beauty in advertising; images that bombard us daily. I re-imagine those pictures and reuse the paper in my work. My mosaics portraits are a purposeful intermix of images and text -found in advertising – on postcards, packaging, junk mail, etc. I hand cut, sort and manipulate thousands of pieces to assemble a newly envisioned portrayal of beauty – an eclectic and highly textured portrait, utilizing materials that would otherwise go to waste.”

I find it amazing how clean her mosaics are; hand cutting paper is an art in itself and something I have always struggled with. Collage mosaics can often look amateurish and thrown together. It’s rare for me to find a one that looks truly professional. Schimmel undoubtedly has a rare talent for making handmade appear mechanical.

Sandhi Schimmel’s junkmail photo mosaics