In a world where the news cycles are constantly updated with stressful headlines and responsibilities are crushing, students may be searching for a creative outlet to express their frustrations and sentiments. Collage and scrapbooking have emerged as new hobbies among college students. Young people have recently been collecting items and repurposing them into art through these mediums, creating mementos of their own memories and showcasing the world around them on paper.
This trend marks an important sentiment for Gen Z — that anything can be repurposed instead of participating in consumerism. People can collage anywhere, from their journal to their Instagram story. The flexible nature of collaging provides students with the ability to be creative anywhere and everywhere, using found items both online and in the real world.
These mediums can be used to celebrate cherished memories, express frustrations with society or whatever the individual wants it to be. With no prior talent required and inexpensive materials, these art forms are on the rise for a reason.
Bella Moon, a Eugene local working at Sephora, uses scrapbooking to commemorate important experiences to her in a physical way and to connect with her friends. She has made a few scrapbook spreads with pictures of her and her friends during crucial moments, like their birthdays or her first month in Eugene living with her boyfriend.
“I’ve always been really into art,” Moon said. “Scrapbooking is great because I can make these art pieces of my important memories that I’ll have forever. It’s a great way to express myself, too.”
Moon also held a scrapbooking party last month. Moon said the party was a great way for her to connect with her friends on a deeper level and to share their important life moments through art.
“I bought a ton of supplies and wanted to share them,” Moon said. “It’s great for bond building — we all got together and shared some of our favorite memories.”
Moon hopes to continue scrapbooking for a long time and is always searching for new ways to get creative with the medium. Her story exemplifies how scrapbooking can be sentimental and a great outlet for making memories last forever.
Sarah Wallace, a third-year UO student majoring in multidisciplinary sciences, shares this love of collaging. She started pursuing art when she was a kid and has never stopped.
Wallace takes a more interpretative approach to collaging, using it to express themes and sentiments she finds in the world around her. She creates both digital and physical collages. For the digital collages, she finds images that she loves on Pinterest and in her camera roll and mixes them around until she comes up with something she likes.
Wallace said that digital collage was a great way for her to avoid doom scrolling, and allowed her to feel creative on her phone instead of being unproductive.
For the physical collage, Wallace uses a variety of found materials. She thrifts old magazines and canvases, repurposing them into something new. She also uses stamps, stickers and little pieces of paper she collects throughout the day. The idea of repurposing old things and avoiding consumerism is important to Wallace.
A lot of Wallace’s collages are centered around the dichotomy between innocence and adult themes. She likes to use collage as a medium to express social commentary, such as the role of women in society and how sexualization can be harmful.
“Collage is a way to express myself creatively,” Wallace said. “In my major, it can be hard to express myself in that way because science is so rigid and disciplined. Collaging allows me to set some time aside from all of the work, to sit down and express myself in a creative way, with no deadlines or boundaries.”
Wallace says her multidisciplinary science major is rigid and disciplined. She loves to use art to express her feelings about the world around her. She uses collage as a medium to relax, while expressing her ideas in a visual way that is beautiful to her.
Scrapbooking can be anything you want it to be. It can represent your cherished memories, or have a deeper message about the world. Materials can be found anywhere, from the thrift store to your own camera roll. For students looking to express themselves beyond words, look no further than scrapbook and collage.
