Jana Frost on Building Worlds Through Collage
For Frost, collage bridges authorship and the ready-made, reshaping meaning through existing imagery.
Jana Frost builds immersive, symbolic worlds through collage, animation and set design, moving between physical and digital space. Now based in London after years of relocating, her practice reflects that sense of movement and impermanence. She studied fine art at Tallinn University in Estonia, but her education has remained ongoing, shaped by continued research into symbolism, philosophy and psychology, which inform the layered visual narratives running through her work.
Originally trained in ceramics and sculpture, Frost gradually shifted away from material-heavy processes as frequent moving made traditional studio practice difficult to sustain. Collage emerged as both a practical solution and a conceptual fit. Principles central to sculpture such as composition, balance and storytelling translated naturally into cut paper, animation and eventually life-size installations. For Frost, collage exists between authorship and the ready-made, reworking existing imagery in a way that reflects how meaning is constantly reassembled in contemporary visual culture.
We spoke with Frost about her evolving process, world-building practice and the projects she’s currently developing.
Where are you based, and how has your background shaped your work?
I’m based in London at the moment, but I’ve moved throughout my life. There are a few places I’m grateful to call home, and that fluidity has naturally carried through into how I work and why collage became one of my main mediums. My background is rooted in fine art, but my practice always lived somewhere between traditional approaches and experimentation. Over time that evolved into collage, animation, and life-size installations across physical and digital formats. My education has never felt finished. Ongoing research and learning continue to shape how I build visual narratives and layered worlds.
How did collage become central to your practice?
My formal background is in ceramics and sculpture, which I practiced for quite a while. But the logistics of constantly moving, transporting materials, firing work, and storing finished pieces made it difficult to sustain. Collage became far more accessible during that period, and I quickly became fully immersed in it. The ideas I was already drawn to like composition, balance, and visual storytelling translated naturally and became even more pronounced through collage.
What draws you to collage across both digital and physical formats?
So much already exists visually, and many artists work with existing images, ideas, and references from different times. Collage makes that process visible. I’m drawn to how it sits between the ready-made and authorship, taking something that exists and giving it a completely different meaning. I don’t have a strict preference between digital and physical collage, but over time I’ve become more drawn to physical work. Digital spaces have become overwhelming, which led me to build life-size installations using my cutouts. Seeing the work exist in real space feels grounding in contrast to a screen-heavy reality.
How have exhibitions and fashion editorials shaped the way your work is seen?
Some moments stand out more than others. Being selected by Campari to create work for the 100-year anniversary of the Negroni was important professionally, especially given their strong visual history. On a more personal level, exhibiting my cut-out animation in a gallery setting for the first time last year was significant. It allowed the work to function as a complete artwork and created space for people to engage, watch, and start conversations.
Working within fashion editorials allowed my work to exist outside the gallery. Fashion operates as a circulating image culture and reaches audiences who might not encounter art in a white-cube setting. Building sets around my collages also brought me back to my sculptural roots, allowing me to think in three dimensions and experiment with scale, texture, and materiality.
What are you working on now, and where do you see your practice heading?
I’m currently developing a series of short directorial pieces filmed on 16mm within my life-size collages, expanding these worlds into moving, symbolic narratives. I’m also working on cut-out animations that merge collage with analogue liquid light show techniques, which I create myself. Alongside that, I’m planning several fashion collaborations looking ahead to 2026. Film feels like a natural extension of my practice rather than a departure.
People can follow my work through social media, and I’m currently in the process of launching a website that will serve as a more permanent archive of my projects.
