Artist Statement:
I began this project in mid-March of 2020 right around the time most states shut down due to Covid-19. As I thought about what it means to be socially distant, I also thought about how we make connections—and the ephemerality of our means of communication. I wanted to reach out, to make art, and to continue forging those connections that were so suddenly disrupted. I wanted to return to a slow process of writing, something more nurturing and physical, something to be experienced in a variety of ways. The actual creation of these pieces was somewhat difficult; I’m very much a perfectionist but I wanted the text to be as ephemeral as the medium, so I wrote each piece without revision, in one sitting, and using a typewriter, trying to embrace the process as opposed to the product. The process itself was different in particularly sensory ways—the postcards are richly textured, and the type-written text is imperfect. I mailed each postcard and that process alone added another level of physicality—not damage so much as movement and complication and disruption. I’m not even sure all the postcards arrived and, from a process standpoint, I hope some of them are lost, or perhaps torn, or perhaps arriving at unintended addresses. I don’t mind if they wander.
All postcards Curt Teich & Co. circa 1900-1940.
Andrea Spofford writes poems and essays, some of which can be found or are forthcoming in Cimarron Review, The Account, inter|rupture, New South, The Portland Review, Sugar House Review, Revolver, Vela Magazine, Puerto del Sol, and more. Andrea is poetry editor at Zone 3 Press. Find her online at http://andreaspofford.com and on Twitter @andspoff.