POSTCARDS & MR BINGO

Mr Bingo bought a set of postcards for £5 from a car boot sale, hundreds of them slotted into an old shoe box. It was the collection that began his collection. He is still buying them from charity shops and flea markets. The postcards track the British on holiday from the unlikely blue waters of Loch Lomand to the umbrella-patchworked beaches of Malta, the empty dancefloors of Orlando’s discotheques and the surfer-crowded waves of Waikiki. There are familiar clichés about the weather, ‘it’s a bit hot for Arthur’ and evidence of a steady descent in the quality of handwriting from postcards sent in the late 1800s to those from the mid 1980s. Now emails and texts have largely replaced mailing postcards. Our post is made up of bills and flyers from supermarkets. Mr Bingo, however, is still sending out postcards. Recipients are delighted to get some post but possibly less delighted by the contents. He’s sent out hundreds as part of his project Hate Mail.

30 Sep 2012