Mail Art

Mail Art is nothing new in the world. Artists have been sending work through the postal system for decades, turning letters, postcards, and envelopes into artworks that travel before arriving in someone else’s hands. Yet despite its long history, I found myself drawn to the same idea.

I began my version of this series at the start of 2026. After years of traveling, I found that movement can interrupt the rhythm of making, so I dedicated January to a group of small watercolor paintings. By the end of the month, I wanted the postcards to continue their journey, as I was. I had already been sending store-bought postcards while traveling through Asia, so I began sending one handmade postcard per week to a new person in my life. Each postcard corresponds to the week it was made. Since then, I have created between two and eight each week, selecting one to send. Some are successful. Some are unfinished. Some are terrible. All are honest. Using only watercolor, each postcard reflects a moment from those seven days: a place, a feeling, a conversation, a lingering color, or something I couldn’t shake. Once finished, it enters the postal system and begins a second life. I send it from wherever I am in the world and wait to see when (or if) it arrives. The project has become a collaboration with distance, chance, and the recipient. I request an image of each postcard in return, creating a record of the work: the weekly group, the chosen piece, and its arrival. The marks of travel, time, weather, postal workers, and handling become part of the piece itself. The work is not complete when it leaves my hands, but instead when it is received.