"I was introduced to collage at around 4 years old by my Mum. She was a kindergarten teacher and wanted to prepare me for school so she made me a scrapbook full of images cut out of magazines. In black pen and neat teacher writing, she would label the image. This way, I would learn new words.I began making my own scrapbooks, with images cut from magazines. I would add drawings and words once the bits were all stuck in. I remember that the heavily glued pages made a beautiful crinkly sound as they were turned.

In my teenage years I started collaging again, this time collecting images from magazines like Dolly, Vogue, Elle and Cosmopolitan: a source of fascination, and later, rage.After consuming the magazines, with all their dizzying illusions of beauty (and copious advertising), the only way I knew how to get back to the real world in one piece was with a pair of scissors and some glue.

As any collagist knows, the process is everything, and is both addictive and life-affirming.