origins of collaboration

One of my favorite assignments from college came in an advanced drawing class. We were asked to work in pairs and create a series of images that represented both of us. Most pairs produced visual mash-ups of their individual styles, but something curious happened with our work. My partner and I created a set of images that were not only stylistically departures from our personal sensibilities, but they also could not be deconstructed into either of our individual hands. What we produced was a true co-creation, what today I would  recognize as an act of genuine collaboration.