Journeys in Art

Raymond Aubin loves to travel and to share his passion, he has created a map of North America with licence plates. At first glance, the work, created by the 57 year old, is surprising, but on closer examination, it turns out to be incredible. Every province, territory and state is there, represented by a licence plate. "I've travelled a lot in my life," explained the Huntingdon resident. "I gave the first work I created, which represented Canada and the United States, to my brother. The second work is much more complete and required a lot more research." Aubin admitted that, if he had to, it would be hard to put a price on his creation. It could be a few thousands dollars. Some plates were acquired at considerable expense while others were acquired through bargaining. "It's fairly easy to find licence plates in Canada, although it's more difficult when it comes to Nunavut. Nunavut doesn't have very many vehicles which makes it complicated to find plates. Plus, I needed four to represent the territory." When licence plates are controlled Finding plates for Nunavut may have been difficult but it was nothing compared to the state of Sinaloa in Mexico. "This state is controlled by the El Chapo cartel. I searched for a long time before I met a man who had a licence plate for Sinaloa and then we had to negotiate the price." Raymond Aubin's work has been created to scale and it is possible to see the name of the province, territory or state written on each plate. "That alone is already a considerable amount of work," admits the man who set out on his first travels 32 years ago. "It's made to scale. I cut the plates myself, mounted them on a sheet of wood and then soldered the parts so that the borders are easy to see." While it may only take a few moments to look at a work of art, Aubin indicated that he devoted over 350 hours to create his map. "This took passion and lots of patience," he said, laughing. "Ever since I entrusted my creation to the Bar du Village in Huntingdon, people have been telling me about their own travels. That's the part I like best." What he is doing now Now that this work is finished, Raymond Aubin is free to start another project. "I still have lots of plates and, I'm now in contact with the Automobile Licence Plate Collectors Association (ALPCA). It's the largest organisation of licence plate collectors in the world. ALPCA currently has 2 739 members in 50 states and 19 countries. With enough money, I would love to cover a Mustang with licence plates from North America," concluded the avid traveller. (Translated by Cathleen Johnston)