---

My name is Petra. I am an East-West German graphic artist and illustrator.

After many years of a rather nomadic life, jumping back and forth between Germany, the UK, France, Singapore and Malaysia, I now work and live in Paris. I spend most of my days designing things, recycling images, and stringing words into sentences that are often longer and more elaborate than necessary or reasonable. Whatever time is left, I spend on books.

About a decade ago, I re-discovered collage—the art of recycling images—as the medium that allows me to combine and express all the things that interest me: images and words, old and new, good and bad, fact and fiction, hits and misses. Over time, I’ve developed a style that bridges analog and digital.  

My work reflects the visually oversaturated world I live in, and the over- and under-stimulation that comes with it. It’s my way of appropriating imagery I would most of the time, given the choice, not have looked at in the first place.

I listen to a lot of music while I work, hence the music references everywhere. I love summer and the beach, hence the palm trees everywhere. And I have two pet bunnies called Pepper & Dot, hence the bunny pictures everywhere.

Last but by no means least, currently mainly and above all, I'm the founder and creative director of Paris Collage Collective, an international collage artist community that hopes to encourage creative expression, exchange and collaboration.

Please say hi.

---

Je m’appelle Petra. Je suis graphiste et illustratrice allemande — Est et Ouest à la fois.

Après des années d’une vie plutôt nomade, à faire des allers-retours entre l’Allemagne, le Royaume-Uni, la France, Singapour et la Malaisie, je travaille et vis aujourd’hui à Paris. Je passe la plupart de mes journées à concevoir des choses, recycler des images et assembler des mots en phrases souvent plus longues et tarabiscotées que nécessaire ou raisonnable. Le reste de mon temps, je le passe avec des livres.

Il y a une dizaine d’années, j’ai redécouvert le collage — l’art de recycler des images — comme le médium qui me permet de combiner et d’exprimer tout ce qui m’intéresse : images et mots, ancien et nouveau, le bon et le mauvais, faits et fictions, réussites et ratés. Avec le temps, j’ai développé mon style qui fait le pont entre l’analogique et le numérique.

Mon travail reflète le monde visuellement saturé dans lequel je vis, et la sur- et sous-stimulation qui va avec. C’est ma façon de m’approprier les images que l’on m’impose la plupart du temps.

J’écoute beaucoup de musique en travaillant — d’où les références musicales un peu partout. J’adore l’été et la plage — d’où les palmiers partout. Et j’ai deux lapins de compagnie qui s’appellent Pepper & Dot — d’où les lapins partout.

Enfin et surtout je suis la fondatrice et directrice artistique de Paris Collage Collective, une communauté internationale d’artistes du collage qui encourage l’expression créative, l’échange et la collaboration.

N’hésitez pas à m’envoyer un message.

---

EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS

PARALLEL UNIVERSE
exhibtion with Mary Molina
Galerie Collberg, Grenoble, France
February 24 - March 8, 2026

COLLAGE & POP CULTURE 2.0
curation & organisation
Centre Anim’ Rachid Taha, Paris, France
February 2 - 28, 2026

COLLAGE & POP CULTURE
curation & organisation
Centre Anim’ Rachid Taha, Paris, France
January 6 - 31, 2026

POP*PING PERSPECTIVE
BAM! FESTIVAL DE POP CULTURE
curation & organisation
Centre Culturel Jacques Prévert, Villeparisis, France
October 18 - November 15, 2025    

SALON de BAM! FESTIVAL DE POP CULTURE
all day workshop
Espace Charles Aznavour, Arnouville, France
November 15, 2025

JOURNEES DU PATRIMOINE
workshop
Cité du Souvenir, Paris, France
September 20, 2025

COLLAGE NOTES II
curation & organisation
Centre Anim’ Rachid Taha, Paris, France
June 3 - 21, 2025

LA JOURNEE DE LA FEMME with EUROPEANA
workshop
Espace Canopy, Paris, France
March 8. 2025

MAKE & TAKE 
all day workshop
Mairie du 14e
January 18, 2025

WILDER COLLAGE ARTIST TALK
guest speaker
online 
December 12, 2024

COLLAGE NOTES
curation & organisation
Espace Canopy
December 14-21, 2024

LA JOURNEE DE LA FEMME
workshop
Espace Canopy, Paris, France
March 8. 2024

NYCE (NEW YORK COLLAGE ENSEMBLE) TALK
guest speaker
online
January 28, 2024

CONTEMPORARY COLLAGE MAGAZINE AWARDS 2023
jury panel
online
September - October 2023

A CONTRESENS
solo exhibition
Les Passantes, Paris, France
May 10 - June 10, 2023

NOT JUST: A World Collage Day Exhibition
group exhibition
Maude Kerns art center, Eugene, Oregon, USA
May 12 - June 9, 2023

Hommage à Rachid Taha
curation
Centre Anim’ Rachid Taha, Paris, France
May 9 - June 3, 2023

D.Rad - Complicating the Narrative (In a time of false Simplicity)
workshop
Espace Canopy, Paris, France
April 12, 2023
︎ D.Rad

PARIS COLLAGE ENSEMBLE
group exhibition
Maison des Ensembles, Paris, France
February 24 - March 24, 2023

COUPÉ COLLÉ
group exhibition & curation
Centre Anim’ Rachid Taha, Paris, France
January 30 - March 2, 2023

LAND OF SUNSHINE 
solo exhibition
Centre Anim’ Rachid Taha, Paris, France
January 3-28, 2023

ART EN FÊTE - Prix du Jury “La Lumière”
group exhibition
Le Befroi, Montrouge, France 
December 15-21, 2022

TODY Y NADA
jury panel
online
May 14-31, 2022

LA LUCARNE DES ÉCRIVAINS
exhibition with Isabelle Milkoff
La Lucarne des Écrivains, Paris, France
May 2-30, 2022

ART ET ARTISANAT
group exhibition
Le Befroi, Montrouge, France
February 7-13, 2020

CANCIONES PARA RECORDAR
group exhibition with MUJERES QUE CORTAN Y PEGAN
Sala Siroco, Madrid, Spain
January 2020

---

PRESS

EXPLORING THE WORLD OF COLLAGE ARTIST PETRA ZEHNER
podcast
La Vie Creative
January 01, 2025

FLOW FRANCE NUMERO 63
Tout Savoir sur l’Art du Collage
August-September 2023

HUNTLANCER
Art of Assembly: 26 Collage Artists You Should Know Today
June 2023

MONTROUGE MAG
Rendez-vous avec les etoiles d’Art en fete February 2023

CONTEMPORARY COLLAGE MAGAZINE #15
Interview
December 2022

FLOW 10/2022
In de Collagebanken 
[link no longer available]
October 2022

TRAVELGLOBE #97
I Collage di Petra Zehner
[link no longer available]
October 2022

CONTEMPORARY COLLAGE MAGAZINE #12
Paris Collage Collective
September 2022

/DRI:M/SPACE ISSUE 01
Blow Your Cover 
March 2022

EUROPEANA
Be Inspired
2022

MUSEUM OF NEW ZEALAND TE PAPA TONGAREWA 
‘It’s a very accessible artform’: Talking collage with Paris Collage Collective
November 2021

WHITEPAPER BY 
Petra Zehner y su musa desconocida
October 2021

THE HEROINE’S JOURNEY
April 2021

ESTHETIC LENSE
Creative Quarantine
[link no longer available]
October 2020

ART OF COLLAGE
Interview
December 2019

PIDGEONHOLES
Two Poems by Jack B. Bedell
[link no longer available]
May 2019

THE CONGLOMERATE 
Conglomeration No. 7
2019

PIDGEONHOLES
Two Faces or a Candlestick
[link no longer available]
December 2018

SOCIETY6
The Friday Five
[link no longer available]
December 2018