In the envelope project we transgress the closed borders of nations through the postal service, considering artistic practice and solidarity between international artists an ‘essential service’.

 

Miniature postal art works and postal marks accumulate as envelopes travel from artist to artist, nation to nation. Sixteen envelopes have been sent out to the world, in an attempt for each one to reach five artists, beginning in Tāmaki Makaurau/ Auckland, Aotearoa/ NZ and ending in Santiago, Chile.

 

Each artist receives the envelope by mail, they are invited to keep a work from the envelope, contribute writing/drawing/notation/on paper, and send it to another artist, documenting the whole process. The envelopes also, in their delays, arrivals and losses, take the time of the virus. Postal routes cascade between availability and closure – telling a story of immense travel across postal services, through homes and cities across the world at a time of global upheaval.