Leah Flanagan

Flanzella is a Toronto-based artist known for primarily her analog collage works made of magazines dating from the 1920's to 1990's. Her process involves a great deal of time. Sourcing materials, hand cutting each piece, and sorting them into categories is what she does for 1-3 hours a day! Rather than sorting by colour or subject matter, she sorts her pieces by year and size so that she knows which era each is coming from.

With the help of cutting tools, vintage magazines, and adhesive, she creates visually captivating works that portray themes that are witty or tied to critiquing social norms or technology. Magazines in this era are chalked full of misogynistic, unrealistic, expectations for women. She believes by bringing history to modern art, the conversation of equality can continue to be discussed. Yes, we've come a long way as a society, but there is so much left to be done.

From a young age, Flanzella adored reading magazines. Her passion for publishing and advertising was discovered through this and became her main source of inspiration. After graduating her multimedia program, she acquired a large sum of magazine inventory that elevated her practice into what it is today. She continues to create daily in her studio and set ambitious goals for the future.