A messaging system, which hosts a backend service for an associated messaging client, includes a context surfacing system that provides context surfacing functionality in collections. The context surfacing system is configured to surface information representing a context object associated with a collection as a context string in a cell that represents the collection in a collections user interface. A cell that represents the collection in a collections user interface is actionable to cause presentation of the set of media content items in the collection on a display device of the viewer.