A postcard collection is never stable, never entirely complete.
Ten years ago, artist Mary Anne Francis played with the challenge of ordering her collection of postcards in her work 'Unsorted'.
Rather than showing an ordered collection, she exhibited her postcards in the process of being classified.
According to Mary Anne, the installation showed someone “attempting to arrange – sort out – a collection of sorts… but: how to sort a type or type a sort?”
According to Mary Anne, the installation showed someone “attempting to arrange – sort out – a collection of sorts… but: how to sort a type or type a sort?”
I’ve come to realise that just as a collection reaches some kind of order, it seems to call out for more of a type and then, inevitably, more of a sort.
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Image of artwork in video courtesy of the artist: installation view of 'Unsorted' at e1 gallery, London, 2002
Artwork sourced from Jeremy Cooper's 'Artists' Postcards', Reaktion Books.
Artwork sourced from Jeremy Cooper's 'Artists' Postcards', Reaktion Books.
