Hidden Pages

This is where we live now, Sidewalk Snowman, 2009-2010, set of 20 postcards, 5" x 7", unlimited edition.
One unique postcard delivered to 20 different UK mailboxes located in proximity to the image on each postcard, another set of 20 postcards mailed from the UK to US friends and family.  

Postcards are ubiquitous in Bath, England. The city is a World Heritage site and draws visitors from all over the world. It is also my new home. In acclimating myself, I found I took many photos of the typical tourist sites but also other more unusual details as a way of understanding aspects of this new place.

In this work, I have taken those images and made them into a set of postcards. Each card was deposited into the mailbox of a resident living adjacent to the site where the photograph was taken. I see this gesture as akin to the gentle nudge one might give a friend while walking along to say "Hmmm...look at that.."

In the United States, it is not allowable to use a private mailbox or slot for any distribution other than items delivered by the U.S. postal service. In the UK, there is no such restriction. Every day a variety of unbidden items come dropping through my mail slot...sacks calling for clothing donations, adverts for mortgages, pizza, and plumbing as well as local magazines to which I never subscribed. So, for me, the act of delivering the cards felt a bit transgressive and refreshingly freeing.

One version of each card was also sent to a different friend or family member in the US as a way of conveying some unique feature of my new home that cannot be found in typical tourist postcards.

The second part of this work developed when I first returned for a visit to the United States. I had fresh eyes on my country and found myself noting aspects that seemed unique to the place. The second set of postcards, This is where we used to live, were posted back to friends in the UK as a way of conveying some of what I encounter in everyday life in the US.