Cassée – Mixed Media Collage on Paper

The Original

Cassée by Robin Rivers is an original piece of mixed media collage on paper. I created this piece using antique postcards, archival elements, handwritten letters, found photography that has not been digitally altered, my own original photography, handmade papers, and acrylic medium. 

How I source and care for historical materials → Sources

The piece measures 8×10″ (w/h) unframed and is mounted on paper. Shipping will be calculated based on location.  Please note that colours and contrast vary between different monitors.  The colours may not match your monitor’s display exactly. Additionally, copyright of my artwork does not transfer with purchase.

The Inspiration for Cassée by Robin Rivers

Cassée is inspired by a sense of fragmentation that often occurs in women’s lives. I came across a gorgeous vintage photo of a woman from the late 19th century and she set the tone for this piece.

Sources

• • Orphaned vintage photography from the late 19th century. Found at an antique store in Vancouver, Canada
  • Artist materials
    • Handmade papers, vellum, gold paint and gilding, photo paper, gel pens, acrylic matte medium

Notes on Care

I build each collage from public‑domain materials—primarily found pieces, archives—and note what’s known about dates and collections. Where details are uncertain, I mark them as circa. My aim is to honor the past—its beauty and its blemishes—while inviting you into a story that feels intimate and true to its time.

The Artist

Robin Rivers is a multidisciplinary storyteller. She explores cultural memory keeping and technologies of circulation—how stories and images travel between people and across generations. Her practice folds writing and original photography into her mixed-media collage process. She examines how documented archives and personal interpretation shape our shared understanding of the past and how preservation itself is shaped by power, privilege, and historical upheaval. Robin creates all pieces at Studio Albertine in Vancouver, Canada—on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples. This includes the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

Before you go, check out more of my work HERE.

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