Alexandra Savior
Alexandra Savior’s collages unfold like dream sequences, surreal and cinematic. Working with images from mid-century magazines, she assembles fragments into compositions that reflect her subconscious. As with her music, there’s no strict narrative, just emotional undercurrents and strange encounters. Her collages become visual lyrics: poetic, messy, and darkly playful. Her new album Beneath The Lilypad is out now on RCA Records.
In the Words of the Artist
I started collaging when I was about 13, but painting was really my passion. Then, when I was 19, I found a stack of 1950s medical encyclopedias on the side of the road while walking in my neighborhood in Los Angeles. That’s when I started to take collaging more seriously, and I was working on pieces every day.
I generally collect imagery in three categories: I find body parts or people, background imagery, and then objects. Usually, I’m drawn to things within old advertisements, and what they represent to me is top secret.
I feel that all aspects of my creativity come from the same place. I start to feel really excited when I am making a collage, and it starts to come together in a certain way, and it’s the same feeling when I’m writing a song. I find recording music a little more challenging because I’m not able to do it all on my own, so it’s more of a collaborative process with other musicians and producers. In a way, recording is a separate experience from the day-to-day work I do on my own.
I think that more of my anger, and maybe resentment of how I’ve been treated as a woman, comes out within my collages, because I don’t have to address specific things that have happened to me in my past - I can just try and represent them through imagery. With music, I like feeling like I am putting a puzzle together to try and represent those feelings without being too obvious, which is a challenge that I enjoy because I think it improves my imagery within my songwriting.
I think that collaging and writing songs are very similar; you sort of enter into the songwriting process not knowing what you’re going to write about. Then, you have to piece together fragments of lyrics and melodies to create something that makes sense. It’s the same process for me with collages. I don’t know what I’m making a collage about, then I start to look through all of my old 1940s through 1970s LIFE magazines, and suddenly I realize that I’ve created something that represents some part of my life or my psychology.
Making collage has changed the way I look at the world, especially when I’m looking through books or at pieces of art. I think everybody sees the world, listens to music, and experiences art through the lens of their own life. I think we’re all narcissists in that way, and I am no different.
I suppose it’s just making a massive mess within my studio, and creating piles and piles of paper all over the place, and then shoving them into corners when I’m having somebody over to try to make it look like I’m not a complete hoarder, which I am!
About the Artist
On Alexandra Savior’s new album, Beneath The Lilypad (RCA Records)—a collection crafted over the past five years—the singer, songwriter, and musician takes listeners on an ethereal journey. Woven together through 11 lushly orchestrated songs, the album follows the last half-decade of Alexandra’s life, a time during which her sense of self and artistic identity came into question, allowing for a creative freedom driven entirely by instinct and the desire to make music wholly for herself.
Beneath The Lilypad does not tread a linear path—its arc does not follow an artist from difficult times to fully healed. “Because that’s not how life goes, and that’s certainly not been true of my journey,” she says with a laugh. “I wanted the tracking of this album to really reflect that: life is up and down. It wouldn’t have been true to who I am or where I am to have told this story any other way.”
For Your Viewing Pleasure
What to watch, read, and experience, as curated by the Collé team.
FEAROFREVOLT is a collagist from Ireland who works mostly with digital images. His work covers a wide range of subjects but he has a particular interest in identity and the body, and consumer culture. He generally works in a minimal and pared back style. Inspiration comes from pop culture, but especially music and cinema, and he is immediately drawn to anything with a DIY or punk ethos and aesthetic.
ALLAN BEALY is a Canadian-born, Brooklyn-based artist known for his bold, surreal collages that blend vintage imagery with contemporary absurdity. His work explores themes of identity, desire, and the subconscious through playful and subversive juxtapositions. Bealy’s collages have been widely exhibited and published internationally.
KOJI NAGAI is a Hiroshima-based collage artist and designer. Trained in graphic design, he began his career in advertising before turning to freelance work at 24. At 35, he embraced collage, drawn to its freedom and spontaneity. His works blend old and new, fiction and reality, East and West—guided by instinct and first impressions. He lives in Hiroshima with his wife, Naoko.
ANGELO BRAMANTI is an Italian artist known for his bold collages that remix pop culture, politics, and vintage iconography. Bramanti creates densely layered compositions that confront the absurdities of contemporary life with humor and critical edge. His work has been exhibited internationally and often blurs the line between art and protest.
ISABEL SANTOS is a Portuguese artist. Her work focuses on collages and illustrations, exploring the world’s issues and fashion culture. All the images are from Portuguese fashion magazines.
Out and About
What to watch, read, and experience, as curated by the Collé team.
▼ APPLY
OD Photo Prize 2025
The call is now open for submissions seeking compelling photographic work from early-career artists worldwide. With a cash prize and opportunities for a London exhibition and publication, the prize celebrates innovative approaches to contemporary photography. Submissions close on July 7, 2025.
▼ WATCH
Kunié Sugiura by SFMOMA
Sugiura embraces a hybrid approach that reflects her bicultural identity. Her work breaks with conventions of both painting and photography to create dynamic, original forms. Learn how balancing dualities — Japanese/American, organic/human-made, and painting/photography — defines her practice.
▼ LISTEN
Beneath The Lilypad by Alexandra Savior
This is Alexandra Savior’s most intimate work to date. Across eleven hypnotic tracks, she invites listeners into a world of drifting melodies and shadowy elegance.
