The first digital collage starts with a base historical photo, overlaid with a set of figures — the kissing couple and attendant figure— plus a blue moon and a swan added into the frame.
The second image takes that first collage and runs it through a TikTok filter, shifting the whole thing into tiled greens and teals. On top of that filtered base, a new set of figures gets overlaid — the two men gripping and embracing, closer in now, brought forward.
The third collage starts fresh with a new base photo, related to the original historical base from image one, but this time carrying forward the overlaid figures from image two — the same two men, now set against a different scene, with a gold moon and two seated men watching.
Three steps. Base, filter-and-build, then a new base carrying the last layer forward — a stair-step process ending in something different from where it started, one that only makes sense once you’ve seen the step in the middle.
Personally, I’ve always enjoyed most being the one in the middle.
— Behan
