Creative Sunset Selfies Made From Cardboard Silhouettes

What does a grown man do alone on an island with nothing but cardboard, scissors and beautiful sunsets to play with? For John Marshall of Frye Island, Maine, the answer is: make art.

 

Using simple cutouts he draws by hand, John poses with them at the end of each day, creating a series of silhouettes that have become an international sensation. He calls them Sunset Selfies.

 

"The cutouts don’t look like much at first," John explains. "They’re rough, held together by duct tape. But when they’re backlit, all their imperfections fall away. I’m always surprised by what I get."

 

More than the finished results, however, John loves the hands-on experience that his Sunset Selfies give him. "As a writer, I spend too much time sitting down, so I love to step away from all that, get on the floor, draw something, cut it out, and go enjoy the beautiful sunset outside. It’s a very organic process, like being a kid again."

 

Sunset Selfies is really just the latest project in a series of creative leaps for John. In 2010, he volunteered his way around the globe with his wife and two teenage children, chronicling the adventure in his new memoir Wide-Open World. Then, in 2014, he spent a year living at an Indian orphanage and now spends a good deal of his time advocating for orphaned children worldwide.

 

"Living at the orphanage and volunteering with kids all over the world were powerful reminders that creative play is good for you. Which is really what my Sunset Selfies are all about. For anyone feeling old, I’d encourage you to get away from the computer, grab a pair of scissors, create a simple character, then go find your own magic. As I’ve seen, when you squint into the sun, there are whole new worlds waiting to come to life."

 

To see the complete collection, visit www.facebook.com/sunsetselfies.