John Mark Lawler

Digital collage combining vintage photographs, found textures, scanned ephemera, and layered digital elements to create a richly tactile and nostalgic composition. “Compassion” juxtaposes a vintage World War I soldier’s portrait with blooming flowers emerging from his face, symbolizing resilience and compassion amidst the brutalities of war. Subtle details, like two bees gently hovering within the composition, add a quiet sense of life and connection, softening the harshness of the subject. This delicate interplay evokes a poetic contrast between violence and tenderness, highlighting the enduring human capacity for empathy even in times of conflict. The piece invites viewers to reflect on beauty, fragility, and the strength found in compassion.

John Mark Lawler is a graphic design professor and collage artist at the University of Southern Mississippi. His work explores memory, experiences, and the effects of both on one’s being, specifically in the area of self-improvement. His work spans a wide range of mediums including photography, mixed media collage and digital art. Using a combination of vintage imagery and elements to create haunting, ethereal images, his work plays on the uncertainty of the viewer’s vision in the digital age.