Breakups suck. That is something most people can universally agree upon. In our current world of social media it is even worse because, often, we wear our relationships on our sleeves through the photos and statuses we share. One man named Matthew Swarts had a bad breakup recently and found moving on difficult, so he came up with an idea to exorcise his last girlfriend from his life, artistically speaking.

From Wired:

To process the strong, often conflicting emotions that come with these changes, Swart is working on two photo series. In Beth, he manipulates old photos of his ex-girlfriend so she slowly fades from view. In The Alternatives, he manipulates images of his new girlfriend to represent the complicated process of forging a new bond.

“The photos became a way of dealing with loss and the psychological state that I was working through in the new relationship,” he says.

We’ve all done it, but we just use scissors or just crop the photo online. What artist Matthew Swarts did was accept that his former love still exited, but not in a way in which HE could see her anymore. It is profound work, as well as a poignant statement on the acceptance of loss and moving on.

[Story and Photo via Wired | Matthew Swarts]

Tags: Breakup, Ex, funny, geek, love, nerds, photoshop, program, sad, software, tech