last summer, on the occasion of my birthday, my sister, my friend z, and i took a train north for my first ever visit to dia: beacon.
it was a drizzly, green day.
there are wonderful works on view there--my favorites, by fred sandback, robert smithson, richard serra, and michael heizer are part of the "long-term" collection.
there was also an installation by zoe leonard, "you see i am here after all," a collection of some four thousand vintage postcards of niagara falls that essentially chronicles "our" sense of that natural wonder over the course of the last hundred or so years. the postcards are "evidence" but also a vehicle for perpetuating its iconic, mythic, cliched status. you can read more here, if you'd like...
***
the most charming part of the exhibit (for me) were the actual messages on the cards:
hello! i wonder what you are doing tonight.
lovingly, nellie
i come on the afternoon train.
anna
please let me know if you have any turkey eggs for me and how many.
truly, jennie hammer
will return wednesday evening, will look like a boiled lobster.
sincerely,
elizabeth
annie skillens and i are together. a very enjoyable journey. no accidents.
l. pearl
great. but everybody are robbers. they would steal the pennies, etc.
"dutch"
i saved more messages (but alas, they are long gone, with my old phone).
***
the postcard has always been one of my favorite collectibles--whether i'm traveling, or visiting a museum, or just browsing at shop here in the city. i buy multiples of cards i like-- one clean card for me to keep, other clean cards to share with my sister or my cousin jojo, and still others to send...
sometimes my best intentions to write and send them, especially when i'm traveling, go unrealized. time and days get away from me. maybe i spend too much time trying to craft a thoughtful and "perfectly" worded message. and, sometimes if i actually write them, i'll forget the stamp or better yet, not be able to find a mailbox! so the cards come home with me. there have been a few times, feeling totally inept and defeated, i have just kept them or tossed them away...
but i'm resolving with this trip to buenos aires, to write and send, write and send, because postcards can really be perfect expressions of sentiment--brief, heartfelt, unexpected--and i would argue just as nice to write as to receive. with so many opportunities (facebook, twitter, IM) to say what's on the mind, always something so clever and funny and smart, it seems the most novel thing to say would be an honest i'm thinking of you. i miss you. i wish you were here. or something like that.
we'll see how i do...
***
as always, thanks for visiting the blog. i'll be back in a week or so, with new tango shoes and hopefully a few good photos to share.
in the meantime, check out the work of the people i adore, permalinked on the sidebar, but especially:
sheena925...see her latest, lovely creation
jojo aguilar...finally--new drawings up this month
film snobs...shutter island review!
jess hullett (she's got something yummy for you for st. patrick's day. check it out on phoebetv--new episode on monday. maybe tuesday... haa)
and
my maximum favorite writer, steve tignor, blogging brilliantly from the bnp paribas open in indian wells. the tournament actually became one of my favorites because of the way he's written about it--always so keen, so fun. i was almost sorry that i planned this trip during such an amazing tennis week (i might try to catch a little of it while i'm away) but the blog will make it seem like i'm not missing a beat (or ball). i have come to rely on his eyes and ears and mind and heart (yes, i said heart. you can't be a great writer without that) to enlighten me and enliven the world around the sport i love, other things too. and i've never been let down.
be well, and enjoy the week.
