Feature image: Tyrone McKie, St. Mary, Jamaica & Luis Martin, Brooklyn, NY.
By allison anne and Jeremy P. Bushnell
Colour into Focus is an ongoing series of publications devoted to showcasing the work of an international roster of queer and trans collagists. The first issue debuted in 2025; its second issue was released in April of this year. A third issue, focused on innovative practices and techniques, will debut this summer at Making Meaning, a collage symposium held at Vassar College. Although global in scope, the project has strong Midwestern representation, with artists from Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Nebraska published in the first two issues.
The series is produced as a collaboration between two organizations, each with Midwestern ties: Twin Cities Collage Collective (TCCC) and NONMACHINABLE. The first of these, TCCC, is a community arts group co-founded in 2017 by Minneapolis-based artist-publisher allison anne. One of anne’s early TCCC projects was the anthology publication North Star Collage, emerging from the constraints of the early COVID-19 pandemic. It published 24 Minnesota artists in its first issue, and the project has only grown since, including 76 artists in the second anthology (2022) and 124 in the third (2024).
The process of compiling North Star Collage gave anne the idea for another anthology project, one that prioritized the creative perspectives of the LGBTQIA2S+ community. “Throughout my life, collage threads my queer, nonbinary identity with creative practice and community, representing sustained connection and care,” anne explains. “These projects offer an opportunity to build something together.”
The other organization behind Colour into Focus, NONMACHINABLE, began as a distributor of “optically interesting” publications. Co-founded by anne and the Chicago-based artist and writer Jeremy P. Bushnell—who work together as the “collage laboratory” Morphic Rooms—NONMACHINABLE sought out art zines and artists’ books from around the world, focusing especially on the work of women, artists of color, and trans and queer artists.
As NONMACHINABLE branched out into producing its own publications, a collaboration between NONMACHINABLE and Twin Cities Collage Collective was an organic next step. Looking for a way to push back against increasingly virulent anti-queer and anti-trans ideologies, anne presented Bushnell with the prospect of co-editing an inclusive anthology—and the idea that had been simmering for a few years came to a head. “I knew immediately that this was something I wanted to do,” says Bushnell. “It felt crucially important, during these difficult times, to work hard on a project designed to elevate the creativity, joy, and resilience that I see everywhere in this community.”
Both anne and Bushnell see this series as an extension of their personal and professional commitments to uplifting LGBTQIA2S+ voices, especially in a time where queer and trans people find their very right to exist being questioned. Colour into Focus reinforces the knowledge that these artists are a vital part of our communities and our futures—embodying creative perspectives that should be invested in, prioritized, and uplifted.
To learn more, visit nonmachinable.com and twincitiescollagecollective.com and connect on Instagram at @nonmachinable.
Colour into Focus Explores Queer & Trans Perspectives Through Collage is published in Issue 41. Purchase a copy here.
allison anne is a queer, nonbinary artist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA (unceded Očhéthi Šakówiŋ land). allison works in a variety of mediums including book arts, zinemaking, graphic design and publishing, At the core of their practice is paper collage—a constantly evolving exploration of experience and emotion through the reconstitution of various printed media and ephemera. By transforming these elements, allison creates textural abstractions which explore the intersections and interactions between context, materiality and creativity. Their work has been widely exhibited and published around the world, including Cut Me Up Magazine, CREATE! Magazine, and Fruitslice. They are also a founding member of Twin Cities Collage Collective and NONMACHINABLE, a collaborative small press & distributor, with the artist & writer Jeremy P. Bushnell.