Exposition Universelle – Mixed Media Collage on Paper

The Original

Exposition Universelle by Robin Rivers is an original piece of mixed media collage on paper from the Albertine Series. I created this piece using antique postcards, archival pieces, found photography, handmade papers, and acrylic medium. 

The piece measures 11×14″ (w/h) unframed. 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 Exposition Universelle by Robin Rivers

Paris, the city of light, romance, wonder. At times, it may seem cliché. But, what of its magic? Its way of drawing one in and reconstructing how we perceive the world? Through the Albertine series, I wanted to explore how memory and time fragment, reconstructing themselves into spaces that live vividly in our experience, even when they are not a faithful representation of the original. Exposition Universelle celebrates the 1889 Worlds Fair and the unveiling of the Eiffel Tower with public domain elements from Albert-Charles Tissandier, Aexandre Cabanel, Joséphine Arthurine Blot,  the Musée Carnavalet archives, my Albertine and antique postcards from Paris, France. Each element is carefully chosen and cut to capture a moment when Henri is photographing the event and believes he sees an image of Albertine in the sky.

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 my 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.

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