David Hockney Photo Collage

David Hockney Photo Collage introduces students to an alternative way of seeing and constructing photographic space. Inspired by David Hockney’s photographic joiners, this assignment asks students to create a single image from dozens of individual photographs taken over time and from slightly different viewpoints. Rather than capturing one frozen moment, students build an image that unfolds visually, revealing movement, duration, and shifting perspective.

The collages in this gallery challenge traditional ideas of realism and composition. Students make intentional decisions about sequence, overlap, rhythm, and fragmentation, allowing multiple moments to exist within one frame. This project emphasizes observation, patience, and experimentation, encouraging students to rethink how photographs can describe space, experience, and memory in ways a single exposure cannot.