Collage, inkjet print on paper, 21 x 27 cm
Sofia Masini
Sofia Masini works from instinct first, meaning later. She photographs what draws her in, prints modestly, then recomposes her own photographs, letting cuts and layers coexist. Landscape and figure ground the work; repetition and editing become a simple ritual of care and attention. The compositions remain provisional: an ephemeral way of working with photographic fragments.
In the Words of the Artist
Collage, inkjet print on paper, 21 x 27 cm
For me, everything begins with the simple act of making images. I shoot what draws my attention, when it draws my attention — without a plan, without analysis — allowing instinct to lead the way. The camera becomes an extension of my intuition, a way to record what moves me before I even understand why. Later, when a collection of images starts to resonate with a shared rhythm, I begin to look back and search for meaning in what has emerged.
When I create collages, I return to these photographs — fragments captured at different times, in various states of mind — and I let intuition once again guide the process of transformation. Through this dialogue between instinct and reflection, my images take on new forms and reveal new possibilities of meaning.
I prefer to work with my own photographs; Usually, I’m not interested in appropriating the work of others. I print my images most simply and quickly as possible — in a deliberately modest, even imperfect manner — so that I’m not distracted or seduced by the surface beauty of paper or print. I’m always seeking a certain degree of disturbance or noise, as if I wanted to add another layer, an element that resists full comprehension.
Collage, inkjet print on paper, 21 x 27 cm
The landscape in my photographs and collages is essential; it grounds the work in relation to the world. I am deeply drawn to the simplicity of reality and to its quiet ability to reveal itself. To detach myself from the landscape would be to abstract the work — to make it something confined to my own mind, rather than something that remains open to the world and to others. Collage is about freeing images. It is an act of transformation filled with faith and trust in the process. It is an act of revelation.
Collage, inkjet print on paper, 21 x 27 cm
Collage, inkjet print on paper, 21 x 27 cm
I would love to be able to create with a conceptual idea in mind, but every time I've tried it, it's been a huge disaster. Even though I always try not to follow my instincts, in the end, they prevail. I’m an overthinker, so art is for me a way of thinking less and doing more.
Taking and editing photographs is a meditative and healing ritual. It draws my attention fully into the present moment and connects me to the world around me. Working with images is, for me, an act of care — a way of nurturing awareness and presence, of reconnecting rather than withdrawing from everything.
Lately, I've been working on a project that reflects on the impermanence and instability of the art industry and how this impacts the artist’s emotional life. This time, instead of making actual collages, I tried to push the boundaries of images by working with paint directly on paper.
Collage, inkjet print on paper, 21 x 27 cm
Collage, inkjet print on paper, 21 x 27 cm
About the Artist
Born in 1991 in Madrid, Sofia Masini lives and works in Milan. She received a BA in Cultural Heritage from the University of Milan and continued her studies with a Master's in Photography at the IUAV University of Venice.
Her interest in the body, both as a heuristic tool and as an object of inquiry, guides her artistic research. Her work has been exhibited in independent spaces and Italian institutions, among others: Kunsthalle Darmstadt (Darmstadt, DE 2025), MAR Museum (Ravenna, IT 2019), Micamera (Milan, IT 2020), Diecixdieci Festival (Gonzaga, IT 2021), Fabbri Foundation (Pieve di Soligo, IT 2021), Condominio (2021, IT Milan), Preus Museum/Norway's National Museum of Photography (Horten, DK 2022).
Her first photobook, “The body is a revelation as is landscape”, was released in late 2023 by the Italian publisher Witty Books; the volume was exhibited as a finalist in the Photo España Book Award and the Singapore International Photography Festival.
For Your Viewing Pleasure
What to watch, read, and experience, as curated by the Collé team.
XUAN WANG (b. 1979, China) is an artist based in Munich, Germany. He studied at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe with Prof. Erwin Gross from 2005 to 2010 and continued as a Meisterschüler in 2010–2011; prior to this, he trained at the Guangxi Arts Academy in Nanning, China.
KATE STECIW (b. 1978, Pennsylvania) is a New York–based artist whose photo-based sculptures, videos, and installations examine how commercial images migrate across screens and into objects. Trained in sociology at Smith College and in photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she also spent years working as a professional retoucher, a background that informs her manipulation of JPEGs and stock photography into modular, abstract forms.
CHRISTINA KÖNIG is a Stuttgart-based photographer and collage artist. She works with analog and digital images, cutting, layering, and sequencing everyday ephemera to test how memory, place, and touch register on paper.
HELENA QUIST is a Denmark-based photographer and multidisciplinary creative working across stills, motion, and design. Guided by a sensibility she describes as finding beauty in chaos and stillness in motion, her recent projects move between intimate portraiture, editorial commissions, and contemplative sequences.
GABRIEL DE LA MORA is a Mexican artist who turns everyday residue into precise, serial abstractions. Working with eggshell mosaics, human hair, dust, and salvaged paint chips, he builds surfaces that record time, touch, and loss. His exhibitions span Mexico and abroad, and his work sits in major public and private collections.
Out and About
What to watch, read, and experience, as curated by the Collé team.
▼ READ
What Is Gen Z’s Influence on Photography? By Christina Cacouris
In Switzerland, an exhibition reveals the collective vision of a young generation.
▼ READ
The Surreal Moment When Salvador Dalí Met the Pope via Artnet
The Surrealist went into his meeting with the head of the Catholic Church hoping for more than just approval of his artistic endeavors.
▼ LISTEN
Soft Shakes by Go Kurosawa
Recorded over five months in Rotterdam, this album carries the slow turn of the season in every track. You can hear it in the way his musical instincts bleed into each passage, drawing on a deep familiarity with his instruments and a loose constellation of genres that surface and recede without ever breaking the record’s gentle disorientation.
