Me, to me, from me - Mail Art
Guðrún Arndís Tryggvadóttir 1980

This series did originally consist of 19 black & white DIN A4 photos of my back, that I enlarged to real life size photos on thin photo-paper (Copy Line). Then I made stamps and stamped on each photo the name of the receiver and sender, address, POSTE RESTANTE, postal code, city and country. I made photocopies of all the photos before I folded them down to size DIN A5 to look more like letters, took them to the post office where I put stamps on them and sent them on their way.

The final series consists on one side of the letters I got back (11 letters) and photocopies of the letters I did not get back (7 letters) in spite of the international rule that POSTE RESTANTE letters shall be returned to sender if not picked up by receiver within a given time. The photo above shows one example, the letter to me from me that I sent to Beijing and was returned to me.

On July 25, 1980 I sent 19 letters to 19 cities in 18 countries.

The letters are photos of my back. Photos of me, to me, from me.

To be able to send the photos to my own name in 19 cities all over the world I used POSTE RESTANTE*.

Example:
Guðrún Tryggvadóttir
Napels
POSTE RESTANTE
Italy

*POSTE RESTANTE: A department at main post offices where people can send mail to people without permanent residence and to tourists traveling in that city.

The cities were chosen randomly. I sent photos disguised as letters to cities all over the world:

I sent my self photos with the purpose of getting them back, at least sometime.
It varies from country to country how long they keep POSTE RESTANTE letters before they send them back, the shortest time was one month.

Conclusively there has been an exhibition of my back in post offices in 19 cities. Also on their way to there and back.

The letters have gone through the hands of many post service and transportation employees, that might have wondered why the senders name is the same as that of the receiver.
The fact that the photos are of the sender and receiver could not have been obvious.

Each country must have rules on how long POSTE RESTANTE are kept before sent back. According to the time of return (12 returned) it is obvious that the distances comply with the timespan. Meaning that long distance = long time from sending to receiving and short distance = short time from sending to receiving.

Returned letters are stamped, signed and written on by all the people that had something to do in the process of delivery. They write and stamp on my back and note that I’m not there.
Drawings on the letters are by people I don’t know.

• Photo of skin, folded, sent as a letter.
• Communication – working with people without working together.
• Delivery from one place to the other.
• Using a post office as a gallery.
• Showing your art without damanding a certain treatment, retrievement or reimbursement.
• Works sent away to introduce them to other people than the usual suspects in the arts business.

Letters sent July 25, 1980.
To:
Amsterdam
Barcelona
Berlin B.R.D.
Berlin D.D.R.
Kairo
Kalkutta
London
Mexico City
Moskow
München
Neapel
New York
Oslo
Beijing
Reykjavík
Rome
Teheran
Tokyo

Retrieved mail.
From:
Amsterdam
Berlin B.R.D.
London
München
Napels
New York
Oslo
Beijing
Tokyo

Letters probably still (May 1981) in the following cities:
Barcelona
Berlin D.D.R.
Kairo
Kalkutta
Mexico City
Moskow
Teheran

The only letter I picked um myself was the one at the main pos office POSTE RESTANTE in Reykjavík.

Owner: Guðrún Arndís Tryggvadóttir