Like many people trying to make it through quarantine, I tried out a lot of different hobbies over the past year. I made a few loaves of bread, started seriously taking care of a plant, and I tried to perfect that TikTok whipped instant coffee more times than I’d like to admit. But the only one that outlasted its novelty was writing letters. In July, after watching Doug Nichol’s documentary California Typewriter, I picked up an electric typewriter I found for free on NextDoor, bought some stamps, and asked for people’s addresses in an attempt to find connection in this time of isolation.
Scrolling through More Postcards Please feels like attending an art gallery from your phone. Lee posts every postcard she receives and catalogues them, including photos of the art, whatever message is written, who it’s from, and any other bits of information Lee can extrapolate from each card. Some postcards date back to the 1960s, some are brand-new, and others are completely handmade or DIY’d in some way. (One of my personal favorites features an illustration of a cat on top of a bagel with lox by Chicago-based artist Cloey Zikmund.)
With an influx of interest in the project, Lee has noticed an unexpected learning curve: not a lot of people know how to write postcards anymore. “They don’t know where the address goes, where the stamp goes, how much room to leave,” she says. “It really is a lost art form.” (If you scroll all the way back to her first post, though, you can find a handy diagram.)
More Postcards PleasePO Box 47103Chicago, IL 60647 USA
