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Cooper, J. 'The world exists to be put on a postcard: Artists' postcards from 1960 to now' (2019) Thames & Hudson: London

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This book was very important research in exploring how postcards have evolved in their purpose. Now, postcards serve a significant role as an accessible forms of artist's work that can be taken home and owned by the public. Some of the key messages have been highlighted here.

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This workshop tasked us with creating quickly, thinking through making and furthering our projects through physical craft. I felt immediately drawn to the 3D workshop space, because it is outside of my usual methodology.

I have been exploring ideas of new objects and their lessened value compared with older, more historical objects. For me a symbol of these 'value-less' modern objects is a kinder egg. They are easily accessible, and the toys inside hold very little value. I had the idea that putting something of value within one of these kinder egg toy capsules may lessen its' value, simply by being placed within this format.

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Obviously a traditional capsule is tiny, so making a larger one would open up more possibilities of what I could place inside. This was the catalyst for my idea.

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All elements of this piece were found in magazines and newspapers. I like using this method because it helps solidify my instinctual way of thinking, being drawn to certain phrases or words and working from that point.

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Kasmin, J. 'Kasmin's Postcards: Odd' (2018) Trivia Press: Italy

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This was an example of a series of books by John Kasmin which document his collection of found postcards. It was very valuable research to see how someone else's collection of postcards can be organised into themes, and find a place in the world of publishable literature.

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Abadie, M & Beale, S. 'Nothing to write home about: Celebrating the heyday of the British holiday postcard' (2007) Friday Books: Great Britain

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A piece of research that felt integral to this process was looking at Hinde's postcards in this collection. The key words circled here are exactly why I was drawn to these objects.

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Map of Reconstructed London bombed out, Guildhall Art Gallery (2023)

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This was a wonderful piece of visual research in seeing how a place can be represented in a functional, beautiful way.

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'Explore The History' (2023), Thames Festival Trust [Online]

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Thames festival - idea about these funded organisations that have interest in the thames - mudlarking and finds.

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Find out about the rich history of mudlarking

Over the last 30 years, the mudlarks have made a really important contribution to the study of London's history through the sheer volume and variety of finds that they have recovered from the Thames foreshore.

Meriel Jeater, Curator at the Museum of London

Flowing through the heart of Central London towards the sea, the River Thames was once the largest port in the world and vital transportation link between London, the British Empire and the rest of the world. The busy, congested port was filled with ships and boats of all sizes, from large ocean-going vessels, importing and exporting cargo around the globe, to small row boats with watermen transporting passengers from one side of the river to the other.

For eleven continuous miles in London, both sides of the river were packed with docks, wharfs, warehouses, shipbuilding yards, ship-breaking yards, fish markets, factories, breweries, slaughterhouses, municipal buildings, offices, pubs and houses. The vibrant riverfront was home to thriving communities of watermen, lightermen, stevedores, dockworkers, sailors, merchants, fishermen, fishmongers, oyster wives, shipbuilders, ship-breakers and local mudlarks.

Over the past 2,000 years of human activity along the River Thames, countless objects have been intentionally discarded or accidentally dropped in its waters. For millennia, the Thames has been an extraordinary repository of these lost objects, protected and preserved in the dense, anaerobic mud.

Because of its close proximity to the sea, the water level of the River Thames in London fluctuates by 7 - 10 metres with the incoming and outgoing tides, twice a day. As the murky waters of the river slowly recede at low tide, the exposed riverbed in London becomes the longest archaeological site in Britain. The surface of the intertidal zone is an eclectic mixture of rocks, oyster shells, broken glass, bricks, terracotta tiles, animal bones, sand, gravel and mud. Hidden within this unusual terrain are lost and discarded objects, exposed by the waves of passing boats and erosion.

'Mudlarking' is the act of searching the riverbed for these historical treasures. Mudlarks comb the Thames foreshore, which is only accessible for a few hours a day at low tide, in their hunt for objects, untouched since they were lost hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Each artefact, whether ordinary or extraordinary, tells us something unique about London's history.

In the 19th century, Victorian mudlarks were the original 'Foragers of the Foreshore,' scavenging for anything on the exposed riverbed which they could sell in order to survive. They were often children, mostly boys, who braved dangerous conditions to find practical items like coal, iron, copper nails and ropes which they could sell in order to buy food and essentials for themselves and their families. Their income was very meagre, and they were renowned for their tattered clothes, filth and terrible stench. Out of desperation, these young children went mudlarking to survive. In the 19th century, they were considered among the lowest members of society in London.

Henry Mayhew, author of London Labour and the London Poor published in 1851, with an additional volume in 1861 that examined the mudlarks of London, visited the Thames foreshore several times and interviewed a nine-year-old Victorian mudlark:
"His trousers were worn away up to his knees, he had no shirt, and his legs and feet (which were bare) were covered with chilblains (blisters caused by exposure to extreme cold temperatures). He had been three years mudlarking, and supposed he should remain a mudlark all his life. What else could he be, for there was nothing else that he knew how to do? He could neither read nor write and did not think he could learn if he tried ever so much. All the money he got he gave to his mother, and she brought bread with it... He worked every day, with 20 or 30 boys, who might all be seen at daybreak with their trousers tucked up, groping about and picking out the pieces of coal from the mud on the banks of the Thames. He went into the river up to his knees, and in searching the mud, he often ran pieces of glass and long nails into his bare feet. When this was the case, he went home and dressed the wounds, but returned to the riverside directly, for should the tide come up without having found something, he must starve till next low tide."
Henry Mayhew

New, interesting artefacts are constantly being discovered by mudlarks and brought to the museum. Finds from the Thames are still giving us new information and adding to the collective knowledge. These objects are continuing to enhance our understanding of London's history and the lives of Londoners who inhabited the city over the last two millennia.

Stuart Wyatt, Finds Liaison Officer at the Museum of London

In contrast to the young Victorian scavengers of the Thames, mudlarks today have a passionate interest in London's rich archaeology and history, and it has become a popular hobby which gives both adults and children

a unique 'hands on history' experience and deepens our understanding of London's past. Modern mudlarks have discovered and recovered an incredibly wide range of artefacts from all periods of British history, from prehistoric to modern times. They search the foreshore using a variety of methods. Some search 'by eye' while others use a trowel, sieve or metal detectors.

When scouring the Thames foreshore, they tend to look for items which personally interest them. Some mudlarks pick up colourful pottery sherds and white clay pipes, while others search specifically for metallic objects of all shapes and sizes. Coins, tokens, jettons, buttons, buckles, cufflinks, wig curlers, jewellery, gemstones, red garnets, rings, brooches, clothes fasteners, toys, gaming pieces, dice, dominoes, pilgrim and secular badges, bottles, shoes, pins, daggers, knives, chainmail, pottery such as Roman samianware or 18th century Chinese porcelain, early and late stoneware, Victorian transferware and clay pipes, etc. are common discoveries on the Thames foreshore.

Each mudlark's collection reflects their individual personality and provides a unique insight into their interests and passions.

In order to go mudlarking in London, a Thames Foreshore Permit must be obtained from the Port of London Authority. All objects which are three hundred years old or more must be reported to the Museum of London. Mudlarks arrange regular appointments with a Finds Liaison Officer who records the artefacts on the Portable Antiquities Scheme managed by the British Museum.

Historical Importance of Mudlarking Finds

When the Society of Thames Mudlarks was founded in the late 1970s, the members were granted a special mudlarking license from the Port of London Authority. The Museum of London recorded the incredible artefacts found by Society members and through this fruitful collaboration, tens of thousands of historically important artefacts were acquired by the Museum which now has one of the largest collections in the world of Medieval pilgrim and secular badges and Post-Medieval pewter toys, thanks to the Society.

Many reference books have been written about mudlarking finds acquired by the Museum of London. The incredible variety and quantity of pewter toys discovered in the Thames, for example, have actually changed the way historians view the Medieval period. Hazel Forsyth, Senior Curator at the Museum of London and co-author of Toys, Trifles & Trinkets, observes that, 'these Medieval toys are exceptionally rare and have helped transform perceptions of childhood during the Middle Ages'. We now know that, 'some parents [in the Middle Ages] were very devoted to their children and gave them every luxury and pleasure they could afford.'

Every year new and exciting artefacts are being found by mudlarks on the Thames foreshore. These objects continue to change historical perceptions and reveal new insights into London life centuries ago.

Finds can alter our picture of the past. Many of the finds are very small pieces. They are like little pieces in a jigsaw puzzle that help us create a picture of the past. By putting them together we get an idea of what's going on. They can actually rewrite history.

Dr Michael Lewis, Head of Portable Antiquities at the British Museum

Check out all our video, audio, images and news about the project.

Find out more

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Thames Festival Trust | Foragers of the Foreshore | Thames Festival Trust

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Thames Festival Trust - Foragers of the Foreshore - Thames Festival Trust

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MUDLARK | Noun - a person who gains a livelihood by searching for iron, coal, old ropes etc. in mud or low tide. Dig deep into the history of mudlarking with Thames Festival Trust.

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This is an interesting collection that has gained social media presence centering around lost photos. Again this is a great form of research about the public interest in lost and found ephemera.

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View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Museum of Lost Memories (@museumoflostmemories)

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'Meet The Artists' (2019), Thames Festival Trust [Online]

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Other artist's work inspired by Thames mudlarking

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Other artist's work inspired by Thames mudlarking

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Is there a gap? What stories haven't been told? What can our reader explore that this hasn't already been explored?

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The artists whose work is inspired by mudlarking

The River Thames, as the beating heart of London, has historically provided inspiration for artists. During the 19th century, the Thames was famously painted by the likes of Turner, Monet and Whistler, who captured both its picturesque potential and its bustling working world.

More recently, artists have been inspired to focus on the treasures found within the river. These objects are as evocative in their own right as the watery bed from which they've been rescued. Their riverine journey and lost stories have endless iterations, interpretations and significance. Here we see the mudlark as artist, and the artist as mudlark: from photographic and watercolour still-lifes, to immersive films, porcelain vessels and re-workings of yesteryear's broken pottery.

All the works featured here were part of our 2019 exhibition Foragers of the Foreshore at the Bargehouse Gallery, Oxo Tower wharf. As well as reflecting the lost and forgotten objects of yesteryear, many of these works also provoke important discussion about what today's trash means for tomorrow's archaeological record.

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Thames Festival Trust | Foragers of the Foreshore | Thames Festival Trust

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Thames Festival Trust - Foragers of the Foreshore - Thames Festival Trust

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The artists whose work is inspired by mudlarking The River Thames, as the beating heart of London, has historically provided inspiration for artists. During the 19th century, the Thames was famously painted by the likes of Turner, Monet and Whistler, who captured both its picturesque potential and its bustling working world.

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I thought that making a wire frame to paper-maché around would be the easiest, quickest way to form the general shape of the capsule. However I didn't think ahead about the two parts and the hinge. In the end, I didn't use this method, and went back to the drawing board.

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Rory was overseeing the making process - he suggested an upside-down measuring jug as a good base shape for the capsule. This worked very well.

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I just repeated the process but slightly smaller to make the second half.

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The finished product with its' real-life counterpart for scale reference

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The finished product with its' real-life counterpart for scale reference

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I really like the outcome - it is very DIY, but it helped further my ideas about the presentation of objects, and how recognisable a throw-away piece of plastic can be for so many people. Above all, it was a fun day.

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When I was on the tube on my commute, I realised there are so many parts of our mundane lives that we see every day and yet have no memory of. I was staring at the arm rests between the seats on the tube and realised I'd never even noticed they were there. What else isn't remembered?

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The words I chose to describe my personal practice

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The words I chose to describe my personal practice

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The photo I took, printed out and scanned

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The photo I took, printed out and scanned

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BBC Radio 4 - Museum of Lost Objects (2019) [Online]

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This podcast explores places, people and objects that have been lost and forgotten in countries because of war, natural disaster etc. This is an attempt to uncover these losses.
There are so many forms of absences, what absences can I explore, and in what new ways?

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BBC Radio 4 - Museum of Lost Objects - Downloads

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Podcast downloads for Museum of Lost Objects

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A very simple drawing of useless objects. The pink are modern and the teal are older - all are essentially without a function.

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Heathcote, Edwin (2022) 'What's the point of old postcards?', Apollo Magazine [Online]

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Research around the format of old postcards, and the act of collecting them.

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What’s the point of old postcards? | Apollo Magazine

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Edwin Heathcote finds that a collection of unused postcards can still send a powerful message

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Postcards - The Postal Museum (2020) [Online]

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The lens of looking at postcards as a form of communication. Their format and history.

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Explore the history of design in the postal service, from posters, uniforms, letterboxes and maps to iconic designs like the Penny Black and Machin stamp.

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Ashmolean Museum Oxford (2023), MANISHA GERA BASWANI: POSTCARDS FROM HOME, Oxford, 14 May 2022 – 12 Mar 2023

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This is an interesting exhibition surrounding postcards as a form of communication but also photography.

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MANISHA GERA BASWANI: POSTCARDS FROM HOME

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This interactive exhibition of postcards from New Delhi artist Manisha Gera Baswani marks the 75th anniversary of India and Pakistan's partition with photographs of 47 artists from India and Pakistan.

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Dawood, Sarah (2019) "There is snobbery around postcards": British Museum explores overlooked art form', Design Week [Online]

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This was follow-up research from the book about artists' postcards, looking into their new role in society.

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A new show at the British Museum features 300 artists' postcards from the last 60 years, which look to demonstrate the political power of the little prints, and how they have helped to "democratise" art by breaking away from gallery culture.

Long gone are the days where postcards would be used widely to communicate with and keep in touch with people. But the little 15cm x 10cm rectangles still serve a purpose, whether that's to form a collection of mementos from various holidays, or to surprise someone with a piece of post when they need cheering up.

But to what extent do we see these small rectangles as artworks in their own right? While museums and galleries will often shrink down famous David Hockney and Pablo Picasso pieces to fit the reduced size format and bulk sell in their gift shops, postcards can also be the original canvas for art; many artists and designers throughout history have used their small size and easily dispensable quality as a way to share a message or raise their own profile.

The British Museum is exploring the versatile art form through its new exhibition The World Exists To Be Put on a Postcard: Artists' Postcards from 1960 to Now.

The show features 300 postcards made by artists over the last 60 years, donated to the museum by writer and curator Jeremy Cooper, who has spent the last 10 years collecting roughly 1,000 postcards from various means, including online marketplaces and real-life flea markets.

His collection has been whittled down by himself and the British Museum curatorial team to 300 pieces, including original artworks by famous names such as Tracy Emin, as well as those by lesser-known, "avant-garde" artists who are radical and experimental in their approach.

By showing a broad range, the exhibition aims to show the "democratising" nature of the postcard, says Jenny Ramkalawon, curator at the museum and co-curator of the show. This led to the decision to create a giant "pinboard effect" for the exhibition space, with postcards pinned to boards and "scattered" in display cases, rather than "mounted reverently", she says. The design of the space has been completed in-house.

"We didn't want to give the postcards a 'museum feel', or make them inaccessible," she adds. "Anyone can collect postcards. Many of these, even the ones by famous artists like Joseph Beuys, you could pick up for a few pounds, whereas there was no way most people could go to an art auction and get a full-size artwork from the same artist. Jeremy [Cooper] was fed up by high prices in the art world.

The ramshackle display of the postcards in the exhibition also looks to reflect the experimental nature of the art that has graced them over the decades. The ability for postcard artists to spread subversive, political messages was made easier by the fact that they could be easily disseminated and shared by post, says Ramkalawon, while avoiding the need to be approved by a gallery or museum meant the art was both more accessible and could be more radical.

"Their accessibility has made them incredibly effective as political tools," Ramkalawon says. "They're small, cheap, and could be easily swapped between friends."

The exhibition is split into 15 thematic sections, including political postcards, feminist postcards, fluxus (experimental, performance-based) art postcards, and postcard invitations, so those that were sent out to advertise or promote an event, gallery opening or talk. Other sections include graphic and letterpress postcards, and portrait postcards, which feature portrait photos of artists.

The idea joining all the postcards together is that they are works of art in their own right, says Ramkalawon, and had the intention of being sent via post rather than hung up in a gallery space.

"The core of the exhibition is that these postcards were original artist concepts, rather than shrinking the Mona Lisa to fit," she says. "These are not the kind of things you buy in a museum shop."

One experimental postcard that features in the show is Postman's Choice, a witty piece by artist Ron Gauthier, which includes an address to one person on one side of the postcard and an address to somebody else on the other side, leaving the decision of where to send it up to the person delivering the post. Featuring in the fluxus section of the exhibition, this art movement focused on experimental art performance, with the emphasis on the process and undertaking of work rather than the final product.

Feminist examples include Eleanor Antin's 100 Boots, which documented her trip around California, where she bought and photographed 100 different Wellington boots in various locations, producing 100 separate postcards.

Politics is represented through multiple depictions of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan from the 1980s, Photo Op, a piece by Peter Kennard and Cat Phillips showing Tony Blair taking a selfie against an image of burning oilfields, and Art for the Moratorium, an anti-Vietnam war postcard by Jasper Johns.

Ramkalawon says that while the postcard has the capacity to be very subversive, given how easy it is to share, for this reason it has also been devalued as art and treated as more disposable than traditional gallery work.

"It has been overlooked as an art form," she says. "There's a real snobbery about this kind of ephemeral art, like there has been with Christmas cards and lottery tickets. But they offer viewers so much about life in the 20th and 21st century, from its political climate to people's interests and concerns."

She adds that, despite their effectiveness, certain types of postcards are increasingly dying out - while artists may continue to create work in the format, certain uses, such as invitations, are becoming obsolete as email invites take over.

"Some of the invitation postcards we have in the show are rare, because often they are just discarded after someone's been to a gallery opening," says Ramkalawon. "But they often have really interesting contextual and historical information on them about the exhibiting artist. They're incredibly informative."

She adds that, while postcards may continue to exist, traditional techniques for producing them may also become non-existent.

"It's becoming more difficult to find people who make postcards, such as lithographers," she says. "Instead, the images are all becoming digital. I feel true postcard art has come to an end, but I'm happy to be proved wrong - there are some younger artists still using them in their practices."

What sets the postcard apart from gallery art is that, while art within its own right, it was once used prolifically as a means to communicate and share information. As digital communication takes over, it could be that the postcard becomes less useful in conveying a political or social message - particularly when people's thoughts can reach millions of people across the world via social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter.

For this reason, the British Museum hopes to immortalise Jeremy Cooper's postcard collection, and reserve the individual pieces as reminders of various artistic movements, and different social and political climates. The show also hopes to show visitors the extent of the British Museum, emphasising that it devotes space to contemporary and avante-garde art, as well as history.

"Postcards are a snapshot of history, which is why I think the British Museum is a great place for them," says Ramkalawon. "I hope this show will show visitors the diversity of our collections, and the artists we collect."
The World Exists To Be Put On A Postcard: Artists' Postcards from 1960 to Now runs until 4 August 2019 at Room 90, the British Museum, Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1B 3DG. Entry is free. For more information, head here. Following the exhibition, the collection of postcards will be kept in the British Museum's archives, and can be accessed and viewed by visitors by booking an advance appointment.

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"There is snobbery around postcards": British Museum explores art form

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A new show at the British Museum features 300 artists' postcards from the last 60 years, which look to demonstrate the political power of the little prints, and how they have helped to "democratise" art by breaking away from gallery culture.

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Male, Andrew (2020) 'Monopoly houses, toy soldiers and Lego: the museum of plastic lost at sea', The Guardian [Online]

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Tracey Williams' collection of plastic objects found on beaches

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Tracey Williams' collection of plastic objects found on beaches

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Lost and found objects - value and obsolescence, new and old.

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Monopoly houses, toy soldiers and Lego: the museum of plastic lost at sea

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The waste washing up on British beaches is a shocking but fascinating catalogue of our times

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Longstaff, Emma (2022) 'Collecting Postcards', Homes And Antiques [Online]

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Again, more research around the art of deltiology.

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'Wish you were here?' We tend to think postcards go hand in hand with a traditional seaside holiday, along with fish and chips, sandcastles, and disappointing weather. But Georgina Tomlinson, a deputy curator at London's Postal Museum, explains that in their early days, postcards were used more like emails or text messages: 'When we go back to the first postcards, they were very plain, with a pre-printed stamp. They were designed to be a functional communication tool - and very quick and cheap to send at half the price of a standard letter. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, postal collections and deliveries were so frequent, especially in central London, you could send a postcard in the morning and it would arrive the same day.'

The first stamp in the world was issued in England in 1840, but postcards actually originated in Austria-Hungary; the earliest British postcards were produced in 1870. The British Post Office accepted picture postcards at the halfpenny rate in 1894, but one whole side was still left free for the address - any message had to be squeezed around the image.

It wasn't until 1902 that the divided back cards we're more familiar with today were approved for use. Anyone could potentially read the message on a postcard, so some senders resorted to code, like Morse or mirror-writing. 'There was also a language of stamps - the angle at which the stamp was stuck said something specific, like "I love you" - but as this seems to have been quite widely known, it wasn't really very secret,' laughs Georgina.

You might also like collecting antique photographs

Huge numbers of postcards were sent in the early years of the 20th century- up to 900 million every year. We have accurate figures, as the Post Office had a special postcard rate, until it was replaced with the first and second class system in 1968. Savvy postcard publishers devised ways of boosting sales even further by encouraging a collecting craze, says Georgina: 'The company Raphael Tuck & Sons ran competitions to see who could collect the most postcards. They were also numbered and produced in series, the idea being that you'd try to assemble them all.' And when holidays on the coast became popular with the masses, publishers seized the opportunity to produce cards depicting bustling promenades and sunny beaches.

During the First World War, soldiers at the front were given free postage, and encouraged to write home as a way of boosting morale. Georgina describes how the messages could be far from poetic: 'They might just scribble something like "Still going strong" - but imagine how much that meant to a mother back home.'

There's something so moving about a postcard, she thinks: 'When you hold an old card in your hand, it can be a very emotive and tangible link with the past. It's been handled by two people connected in some way. The way people wrote to each other helps us see into the ordinary, everyday lives of people who often get left out of history. The messages can be so simple, but the character of the people writing them really comes across. We hear the voices of people as they really were, and not a romanticised version.'

It's these insights into social history that make postcards so appealing, agrees Ken Payne, an expert valuer at 1818 Auctioneers in Cumbria: 'At auction, the most valuable postcards show us how people really used to live and work. They're pictures of lost worlds. Topographical cards from the early 1900s achieve the highest prices at auction, especially when they're showing vehicles, people, events like parades and fairs, even accidents like tram crashes, train crashes, and mill fires. Black-and white images of country scenes don't appeal in the same way.'

You might also like a beginners guide to buying at auction

In June 2021, 1818 Auctioneers sold a large collection of postcards of Barrow-in-Furness photographed around the turn of the century, depicting ships, dockyards, airships, even fires in factories, which made £12,000. In the same sale, a very unusual set of postcards from Singapore and Penang in the early 1900s went for £7,000.

Although really rare collections of topographical cards can make thousands at auction, individual postcards, or even a bundle, sell at postcard fairs or online for just a few pounds, making this one of the most accessible areas of collecting. There are many themes on which a collection could be focused - old shopfronts, scenes from Skegness, Suffragettes... or perhaps you'll be intrigued by the messages. As Georgina puts it, 'With postcards, there's beauty on both sides.'

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'Wish you were here?' We tend to think postcards go hand in hand with a traditional seaside holiday, along with fish and chips, sandcastles, and disappointing weather. But Georgina Tomlinson, a deputy curator at London's Postal Museum, explains that in their early days, postcards were used more like emails or text messages: 'When we go back to the first postcards, they were very plain, with a pre-printed stamp.

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In terms of modes of display, this is not a very thoughtful way of exhibiting my work. This peer review taught me the value of both 'finished' work, and more sketched out roughs. Other people had much more interesting ways of displaying their project, mapping out their thoughts visually.

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I felt quite lost with the project and realised I needed to reevaluate my basic approach.

I have previously worked around site in Unit 1 and felt like that exploratory pathway has been extensively overworked in my practice. The idea of community is a theme I feel more tentative to approach because I would want to have a connection to the group and a clear motive for exploring that community. Because I don't instinctively have any ideas around this theme, I think anything I choose to focus on is in danger of appropriating pre-existing community models or taking on a voyeuristic perspective.

The idea of collection appealed to me more instinctively - there are many collections I have a personal interest in that I would love to illustratively explore and haven't attempted to previously. I started to think about my personal collections and how these could extend outwardly.

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This page is a documentation of my thoughts becoming more specific, and my approach narrowing. The collection that emerged as the most fascinating and moving, was the lost and donated postcards.

Used postcards can be found in fleamarkets, on ebay, charity shops and other bric-a-brac stores. I came across this phenomena a few years ago and have been fascinated with them ever since.

Individually, each postcard allows a small glimpse into the life of the sender and also the receiver, their relationship, and also the contextual climate in which they are living. As a collection, they tell a story of historical communications, mundanity and travel, but most significantly, loss.

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Having to write this statement made me rethink the purpose of this project for me. What is the point? What can I communicate really well? What do I want to say?

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My group gave me some great ideas in moving forward. I know I need to get more specific in my lens, and pick a type of object that represents these ideas of lacking value, lost memories and borrowed stories.

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I went through all the postcards I found in the Crouch End collection and picked out any that had visual potential. I wrote them in a very random arrangement.

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Looking through the gathered phrases, some words and ideas seemed to link and create small stories. I jotted these down and continued to draft in the hopes that a narrative would appear.

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This was the final draft of the story that emerged out of the collaged postcards. I think its' a melancholy tale with a nostalgic voice.

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This is a collaged version of the poem, with all the real fragments from the different postcards. As you can see, there are no filler words, every single word is from someone else's story. The only part I played is stringing them together.

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This was a small experimental piece I made in response to the line in the story "we slept most of the way". I love the effect of the washes of ink layered with charcoal. However, the medium is difficult to work with and to create defined faces. I was worried I wouldn't be able to continue with consistent character if I worked in this way.

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This was another experimental piece I did, testing different colours and mediums. This was in response to the line in the story "the shy smiling sellers, the look of young and old in the rain, hail and snow". I like the way the people intersect, and all the different expressions and characters, but there is hardly any context outside of these characters. Also the colours were difficult to blend, and it feels a little cluttered because of this.

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This was a page of planning, figuring out how to divide the story so that I could illustrate each section.

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This is a more specific page of planning. Although to an outsider this looks like an almost undiscernable page of scribbles, this is the way I work in order to map out my thoughts concerning composition.

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This research has been a follow-on from my AV presentation, and the notes that I was given. Phil suggested matching my earlier forms of experimental image generation to my more final images, looking in to printmaking and collage as a way of merging stories.

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Priya made a suggestion of looking at John Stezaker following on from my AV presentation, exploring postcards as a tool for collages, and their collection format as an alternative compositional method.

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Although differing from my chosen method of image generation, Stezaker's work was useful in understanding the context that postcards inherently hold, of a past time, connections and communications between people. His work is humorous and melancholy, and much more rough around the edges, which I think moving forward would be helpful to implement in my own work.

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Again, a suggestion made by Priya was to look into Sophie Calle's work as a way of exploring this voyeuristic collection of other people's lives and stories. She did this through photography and arrangement of objects into a collection, so similar methodology but very different visual outcomes.