Meet Natalie

A little bit about the woman behind the collages.

I've always been drawn to things that feel like they hold a story. Old photographs, antique illustrations, forgotten objects, unusual details—anything that makes me wonder about the life or world surrounding it. But I'm less interested in telling a story with a beginning, middle, and end than in creating a world that suggests one. I love the way a single expression, gesture, flower, animal, piece of clothing, or strange little detail can evoke an entire feeling or leave something open to the imagination.

I'm especially fascinated by the many sides women can hold within themselves—the beautiful and the strange, the vulnerable and the powerful, the romantic and the dark. That complexity is one of the reasons I'm so drawn to folklore, mythology, history, and the stories we inherit and reinterpret over time.

I'm a Louisiana artist, wife, and mom, creating mixed-media collage from my studio in North Louisiana. My work often draws from the visual and cultural richness of the South, while reaching beyond it into imagined worlds shaped by femininity, history, folklore, and the unexpected connections I find between images.

My love of making things goes back further than I realized. My grandmother was a painter who created her work on old roof shingles, and I think some part of that spirit stayed with me—the idea that art can come from unexpected places and that an old, overlooked thing can become something worth keeping.

I studied English and Anthropology at LSU before earning a master's degree in the Teaching of Writing from Humboldt State University. Looking back, those two fields make perfect sense for the artist I've become. I've always been interested in the stories people tell, the symbols we create, and the ways those stories shape how we understand ourselves and the world around us.

Collage became the perfect language for all of that.

I begin with fragments—sometimes beautiful, sometimes strange, sometimes completely unrelated—and slowly build them into something with its own story. I work both digitally and by hand, transforming vintage and contemporary imagery into layered paper collages. I combine digitally sourced and manipulated images with printed, cut, and assembled elements, sometimes incorporating paint or other materials when a piece calls for them. Nothing is quite what it was when I found it.

And neither are the stories.

The collections

Rather than creating one piece at a time without connection, I tend to work in collections. Each series gives me a world to wander through for a while.

Some take me into the strange magic of the Louisiana bayou. Others explore the nursery rhymes and stories we absorbed as children, or the complicated ways women have been understood and represented throughout history. My newest series, Daughters of Eve, turns toward mythology, devotion, and the many ways women can reclaim the stories that have been told about them.

The subjects may change, but I'm always looking for that same thing: the story hiding underneath the surface.

From my studio to yours

¡Fifi Gi! Storied Collage Art began in 2022, named after my two daughters, Gigi and Phoebe. What started as a creative pursuit has grown into a body of work that I'm incredibly proud to share—with collectors, fellow artists, galleries, and anyone who happens to find their way into my little corner of the world.

I still get excited when I find the perfect image—the face, dress, pose, or strange little detail that suddenly makes a concept come alive. Every piece begins with an idea, and I usually have a pretty clear sense of where I'm going before I begin. From there, I spend hours hunting for the imagery that will bring it to life, allowing unexpected discoveries along the way to shift, deepen, or reshape the original idea. That's one of my favorite parts of the process—the hunt itself.

Thank you for stepping into my studio. I hope you'll stay awhile.