Artists cannot fail | Collage week 42
An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one.
— Charles Horton Cooley
I think I will win my 365 challenge, not only because artists cannot fail, but because I am feeling it is a must for me this year. So much else in my life has felt like a failure so I need to finish it for myself, for the blog and for you guys who’ve been following along and cheering me on. I am now doing this last push to finish the year strong. It will make me and my creativity feel better when we enter 2026, to feel like 2025 was not a total waste of my life.
Today I’m sharing seven new collages inspired by strong women found in mostly vintage photographs. Photos from magazine articles, collected and saved in a folder for this very purpose. I’ve added in their names so you can google them yourself if you want to learn more about their lives, accomplishments and story. I think they’re all worth reading about, learning about, getting to know.
The last collage features a modern author because I ran out of vintage photos and could not take the time to dig through all of my collage fodder folders. I know I have a few more similar photos somewhere, but I couldn’t stop to look for them because I wanted to keep going.
This entire series is inspired by previous celebratory collages that I have made, in a series from 2018 called Swedish female Authors. I love creating these, and I am thinking of them as celebrations of these people’s lives and accomplishment. I know many collage artists love using random photos (read: paper doll people “by” Tim Holtz) but that is not for me. All of them represent somebody, a real person, with a real name and a real story. I think that is important to remember even as a collage artist. I do not want to fail these women, I want to walk behind them and follow their lead. With that, I hope I have made them justice with my collage tributes.
Thank you so much for clicking over, taking a look and leaving me a comment below telling me if you know any of these women already and what you think of my collages. Take care.
Feel free to also check out week 42 in 2013 and week 42 in 2018 (outside the grid).
About this project: I am making one collage for each day of the year in 2025 and blogging seven at a time each week here. Thanks for helping me finish this by cheering me on. I appreciate you being here.
❤
365 collages in 2025 | previously: w. 41 | week 42 | next: week 43
All art created by hand by iHanna. Copyright Hanna Andersson. All rights reserved. AI FUCK OF
Good for you for working to complete! 2025 has been a crapshow for me as well and my art making definitely took a hit. I love 293 best of these though I also love how you outlined each of the women in bright marker. And I most say your “AIFUCKOFF” really cracked me up. Yes!
2026 is going to be better! Here’s to hoping. Sending hugs.
ooh, what a cool project!!
Thanks!
These are gorgeous. Bravo for nearing completion!
Thanks. I’m so excited to finish this!