Auden, wearing a brightly patterned skirt, sits in a chair superimposed over an image of their art.

Photo by Belén Romero

Artist statement

Auden Granger (they/them) is a Chicago-based paper collage artist who works in a distinctive mosaic style defined by swirling lines, vivid colors, and fluid movement. Their work employs found materials and ephemera, pulling the paper and scrap that fills our modern world into new forms and contexts and reframing trash as art. While the original source of the paper materials is frequently unrecognizable in the final piece, sometimes a distinctive line peeps through; a nod to the originators of the materials as collaborators and co-artists. 

Auden’s paper work and the intricate, precise layering technique it involves is deeply connected to their work as a theatrical costumer and their love of textile and sewing. Each mosaic line is constructed like a line of stitching, with evenly-sized segments of paper laid out end to end and layered together to weave the richly colored and textured “fabric” of the piece.

Frequent subjects of Auden’s work include disability, chronic illness, mental health, and Jewish identity. Guiding principles of disability culture inform their work — the transformative nature of working slow, the artistry of adaptation, and the unexpected beauty that results from encouraging a piece to develop through and with limitations of materials and capacity instead of fighting against them.

Prints of auden’s work are available for sale at audengranger.com/store

subscribe to see more of auden’s art at patreon.com/audengranger

Ill at Ease: an artist talk on disability culture, found materials, and illness

Ill at Ease: A virtual collage workshop with Auden Granger, hosted by 3Arts/Bodies of Work in April 2024.

Residencies, fellowships, & partners

  • Bodies of Work is an invitation-only fellowship awarded to individuals creating work that illuminates the disability experience in new and unexpected ways.

  • The Disablity Culture Leadership Initiative is a series of video conversations and convenings with d/Deaf and disabled artists in Chicago, documenting the “Chicago model” of disability aesthetics.

  • Auden Granger is a recipient of a 2024 grant from the Access Living Arts and Culture Fund.

  • Reduce Waste Chicago partners with local artists to gather items for creative reuse.

    Auden partnered with Reduce Waste Chicago in the spring of 2024 to collect paper materials for a public workshop on found materials collage and disability arts and culture.