Signed. Sealed. Delivered: Postcards turn works of art

During National Postal Week (Oct 9-16), we look at how snail mail is shedding its ‘communication’ tag to emerge as an art form

They say it is the thought that counts. If you have received a visit from your postman in recent times, consider yourself very lucky — you know someone who acted on that thought.

While a slew of activities marks National Postal Week, post offices are seeing a slow but steady rise in footfall and not because people are taking up letter-writing again. There has been a revival of interest in postcards in an age where ever-new acronyms are the lingua franca and two blue ticks are a measure of how long one can wait.

Postcards have become an excellent canvas to showcase one’s artistic capabilities. Or at the very least, prove to be a one-of-a-kind gesture from someone who cares enough to stroll down to the post office. Artist Padma M. Soman from Chennai would teach her students about renowned artists and their methods. “MF Hussain used to carry postcards and crayons wherever he went. I got my students started on a similar project where they had to sketch on postcards. This slowly became a passion for me,” says the artist who sketches on postcards (The Plain Paper Page) and is an avid postcrosser herself.

For web designer Tawfik Abdullah Manham, postal art was the happy marriage between two of his favourite pastimes — letter writing and sketching. “My mom used to write letters to my dad who was abroad and ask us to pen a few lines too. I also enjoyed art work so my letters always had a few doodles. When I was graduating, postcards seemed the best way to keep in touch with batchmates; they merged the joy of painting and the joy of sending letters, while having a personalised feel.”

Wanting to reach beyond his friends’ circle, he started the Postcard Per Day Project on Instagram. “Anybody could drop requests and I would send them a postcard. A request, a surprise. That is how it’s been for six years now.”

Art and design bring an element of panache to letter writing. “Art has become an integral part of letter writing today. It is a reason to put pen to paper,” says Harnehmat Kaur, co-founders and organiser of Daakroom, a Delhi-based annual letter writing carnival.

The emerging trend of post crossing (see box) has not only given people a glimpse of faraway lands, but also given the humble postcard exciting new avatars. “You can get postcards in 3D, rubber or wooden formats and the range of creatively designed postcards is incredible,” she adds.