Image description

This is a collage in tones of black, white, red and gray featuring small images superimposed over a vintage photograph of mountains and water. The images include a variety of animals and other natural phenomena as well as a figure that could be a lounging 1950s dad adorned with luxuriant scarlet and black wings. There are also strips of text reading “So pure…so good…so wholesome for everyone!” “Dude” and “Where the devil is Josephine?”

Artist’s statement

This is a collage created using weeded library materials plus images from Collage Fantastique by Peter Platel. Creating a link between transgender identity and library work feels especially poignant for me as I am gradually becoming more open in my identity in the workplace and becoming more visibly trans in a public service role. The discomfort of this position for me is outweighed by the joy I feel in getting to become more myself and getting to wake up every morning and be trans, which continues to be a gift. Platel’s book is meant to be a repository of images that allows users to create queer art of their own, inspired by his own art practice. By combining these images with items removed from the library collection, which otherwise would have been discarded, I am trying to reclaim a corner of librarianship where it intersects with queer community, to find joy in the strangeness and mess of transitioning at this point in history.

Artist

Lauren Poole: I’m a reference librarian and parent in Massachusetts and I have been making collages as a way of getting through it since I was a teenager. My vision for art is maximalist and chaotic, mixing as many media as possible with a priority of repurposing what would otherwise go to landfill.

License

A Collage about Gender Euphoria by Lauren Poole is marked CC0 1.0 and is in the public domain.

Recommended citation

Poole, L. (2026). A Collage about Gender Euphoria. Murmurations: A Trans and Gender Diverse Library Journal.