Laura Bell, a painter based in the Bronx, and Ian Ganassi, a poet in New Haven, met as artists-in-residence at the Millay Colony. In 2005, Ian mailed Laura an unfinished poem and handwritten phrases on a sheet of printer paper stained with coffee rings, and in an accompanying letter asked her to do something with it. This became the first move in what evolved into their collaborative collage series THE CORPSES, named after the Surrealist game Exquisite Corpse. Pop culture, politics, religion, and poetry made appearances, and recurring images and phrases created echoes and connections across the works. A collage might have traveled back and forth many times or made only one circuit between New Haven and New York City. The pieces were either minimal or layered; early works tended to be more spare, while later works often gathered more objects, though this tendency ebbed and flowed over the years. Some pieces developed themes or functioned almost as diaries (a hospital glove, a postcard), and time frames could be found in political references. The gathering of materials became a consuming habit, combining found objects, text, drawings, ads, photos, fabrics, and all manner of mixed media—a painterly, visceral process, the anti-Photoshop. Beyond collaboration, THE CORPSES reflects a conspiratorial imagination, sustained over two decades of personal and material call-and-response between painter Laura Bell and poet Ian Ganassi. The round of moves among colleges continued until Ian’s death in September. Light Years Away showcases selections from the final batch.