Souvenir – Mixed Media Collage on Paper

The Original

Souvenir by Robin Rivers is an original piece of mixed media collage on paper from the Albertine Series. I created this piece using antique postcards, 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 Souvenir 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.

Souvenir explores The Belle Epoque era along Boulevard Montmartre  with public domain elements and antique postcards from Paris, France. Each element is carefully chosen and cut to capture a moment when Henri discovers a gramophone shop where he buys one of the machines to play the song he and Albertine danced to over and over again.

Sources

• • Found post card, Boulevard Montmartre, anonymous, (late 19th century), acquired via secondary markets
  • Orphaned photo of a woman, no date, acquired via secondary markets, public domain or presumed public domain based on age and publication status. 
  • Etching of peonies, (18th century) Century Library Archives (PD)
  • Artist materials
    • Handmade papers, handmade postcards, acrylic matte medium

Note: I treat orphaned images as fragments of lived histories. Where identities are unknown, I avoid altering personal features and present them within respectful narratives. If a descendant or rights holder comes forward, I will update or remove the piece from my catalog.

Notes on Care

Albertine is a love story at heart. I build each collage from public‑domain materials—primarily found pieces, Paris Musées archives and The Met Open Access—and note what’s known about dates and collections. While the work leans into romance, I set Henri and Albertine within the city’s real textures: its boulevards and bright nights, and the lives working behind the light. 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 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.

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

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