Collage, hand cut ink on yupo, photo on metallic paper, 18 x 14 in
Sophia Poppy Ericksen
Sophia Poppy Ericksen’s work explores the fragility of memory and how it warps, dissolves, and reshapes itself over time. Photography, in her hands, is not a fixed record but a material prone to breakdown, intervention, and reanimation. Inkblot-like eruptions puncture her compositions, visual fractures that refuse to let an image settle. There’s a tension here: between presence and absence, clarity and distortion. By scanning, mishandling, and manipulating inherited photographs, she stages a quiet struggle with lineage, where the familiar becomes unfamiliar, and history hovers just beyond reach. Moving between analog and digital, accident and intention, Ericksen’s work lingers in the liminal.
In the Words of the Artist
Collage, hand cut ink on yupo, photo on metallic paper 14 x 18 in
My work serves as a diaristic expression, reckoning with a past, present, and future self. I explore themes of identity, queerness, transition, memory, grief, and the idea that nostalgia is a longing for an idealized past or future. In my work, I often process memory fragments, integrating emotions and exorcising personal ghosts in the constant process of developing an identity.
My collages are constructed through a meticulous process of cut-out ink paintings, drawings, photography, and found ephemera, reflecting hours of intimate, up-close work and emphasizing the importance of presence and the act of creation as a means of preserving memory. I use experimental film photography, alternative darkroom processes, and digital manipulation of videos and scans to explore the blurred lines between memory, actuality, and ghosts of the self.
Collage, hand cut ink on paper, inkjet print 21 x 21 in
Most of my work revolves around memory and ghosts of the past, present and future self and how they inform an identity especially in regards to queer identity. Whether I am gathering/taking photography or making an inkblot form, I try to capture something ghostly or looming. Nebulous forms often appear in my work since even the exact narrative details of the memories in my work remain somewhat obscured or distant to me.
For photography, I take most of my photos using different formats of film and digital cameras. I gravitate towards what would be considered “bad technique” in the photography world. Sometimes, I intentionally shoot out of focus or handle my film canisters without care. I would much rather an image be flawed with character than technically perfect.
The other bit of the photography I use in my work comes from my family photos. I have a significant 35mm slide collection that my grandfather took throughout his life. As well as tons and tons of disposable camera photos taken by various family members from the mid-80s to the 2010s. Since inherited photography/ephemera are like remnants of familial history, I find that when I use them in a piece, it roots my work in a lineage or legacy of memory. I then scan, sometimes digitally alter, and then print them on different kinds of paper.
One of the ways I digitally alter my imagery is by doing some fun magic by using flatbed scanners the wrong way. I also use several different kinds of inks: india, eggshell, and alcohol, to name a few (which I use to create my inkblot splatters), as well as a bunch of different kinds of tape and stickers.
Collage, hand cut ink on yupo, photo on metallic paper, 22 x 30 in
Collage, hand-cut ink and archival pigment print on paper, 16 x 12 in
I initially started as a photographer and then found my way to collage as a process. I wanted to spend more time with each of my photographs. I felt that photography as a medium was more fast-paced than I was. So, I started searching for ways to alter and combine my photos. I fell in love with collage and its tactile physicality.
On an emotional level, for me, collage is like merging or contextualizing physical memories. For example, a way to get closure by re-contextualizing childhood photos in a composition. In a way, collage is a form of therapy. Therapy where fragments of paper have the power to heal the past.
Collage, hand cut ink on yupo, photo metallic paper
14 x 18 in
Collage, hand cut ink on yupo, photo on metallic paper
14 x 18 in
About the Artist
Sophia Poppy Ericksen (She/Her) was born in Estes Park, Colorado, and is based in Denver. Her work, shown in Denver, Seattle, and at RULE Gallery in Marfa, TX, explores identity, queerness, transition, and memory. Using ink paintings, drawings, experimental photography, and found materials, she constructs intricate collages that merge past and present, blurring the lines between nostalgia and reality. Her process—cutting, layering, and manipulating images—acts as both preservation and transformation, turning fragments of memory into tangible form.
Sophia Poppy Ericksen has a new exhibition titled, On the Shore, currently on view until March 9th, 2025 in Denver at Pirate Contemporary Art.
For Your Viewing Pleasure
What to watch, read, and experience, as curated by the Collé team.
GUILLERMO MORA (b. 1980, Spain) lives and works in Madrid. He received a BFA from the Complutense University of Madrid and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and completed his PhD thanks to a grant from La Caixa Foundation.
MAUREEN COX PENTZ studied Audiovisual Communication before working in art direction, film post-production, and photography. She later pursued Clinical Psychology and Art Therapy before focusing on analog collage, refining her practice at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London.
TALA RAE SCHLOSSBERG is an artist working with video, sound, and text, often blending all three. Creating has always been an instinct, a way of processing the experience of being alive. Their work speaks more clearly than any bio could, capturing thought in motion with a trust that the next moment will take shape as it should.
ALLISON ANNE (pronouns: they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA (unceded Očhéthi Šakówiŋ land) with their two cats. Allison works in a variety of mediums including collage, zinemaking, publishing and graphic design.
ANDREI COJOCARU is a collage artist and freelance illustrator based in Paris, France. His work has been exhibited internationally in France, Romania, New Zealand, Denmark, and the United States. As an illustrator, he has collaborated with clients including The New York Times, The Economist, Men’s Health, Sidaction, the Audubon National Society, Suzuki, and Société Générale.
Out and About
What to watch, read, and experience, as curated by the Collé team.
▼ READ
Easy Solutions & Problems – Urs Fischer
Gagosian presents an exhibition of paintings by Urs Fischer. On view at the gallery in Gstaad are seven paintings on canvas from the new Chumbox series (2024–) and five new works on aluminum from the Problem Paintings series (2010–).
▼ LISTEN
Richard Prince on Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin
Prince is one of the most influential, and controversial artists on the planet. Renowned for pioneering appropriation art, his "Untitled (Cowboy)" series of rephotographed Marlboro ads includes a piece that sold for $3.7 million, ranking among the most expensive photographs ever auctioned.
▼ LISTEN
You Could Be A Cop (Self Titled)
This self-titled album blends slowcore, emo, and shoegaze into a hazy, melancholic sound. Dreamy guitars and plaintive vocals build toward cathartic crescendos. It's giving 90's emo.
