It is now fall and the pandemic wears on. I continue to stay home to stay safe, I wear a mask whenever I am out in public (I do not go very much at all), and I miss being with my friends. While I may be weary from staying home and wearing a mask when I do go out, the thing that wears on me heavily these days is not being with my friends. I am wondering how you are.
When I do talk with friends these days, asking "How are you?" or "What's up?" feels a little superficial. Those questions are too easy to answer quickly, and offer a way to skirt or avoid addressing what I imagine are bigger concerns and longings. I want to convey my sincere interest and care in a way that will invite a more authentic response and start a conversation. I am wondering how you are.
As time passes I see and hear from friends and acquaintances less often. I fear my memory may become colored or clouded. Will I remember your voice when I hear it again? Will my pandemic-long isolation cause me to forget your smile? Will we all age in ways that make us unrecognizable?
While organizing my bookshelf recently, I discovered my college yearbook. Not feeling an attachment to the object, I was ready to sent it to its next life. That next life is this mail art project, where the faces of my peers from those years at the university become a vehicle for me to explore what it means to remember, what it means to forget, what it means to long for connection, and what it feels like to wonder how my friends are doing.
I am wondering how you are.
I would love to hear from you.
This mail art project is the eighth in my COVID-19 series. The project includes 180 original postcards made with mixed media collage, acrylic paint, and rubber stamps on water color paper.
