“Waiting on the Bus”

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The lure of anonymity that a large city offers is appealing to me – the desire to be able to be oneself within this urban environment is longed for.

Using audio equipment to record voices, I approach strangers at markets around London, having conversations with them about their experiences of judgement. Whilst doing this, I observed a need for anonymity and the fear associated with not having it. I started to imagine ways that I could represent the subtleties of our differences without the need for a face or a name. After asking this question to strangers, I then replay the recorded audio and select quotes to typeset in letterpress. The quotes are turned in to letterpress postcards.

Often, people would say that they were judged when performing every day acts like waiting on the bus, buying food or swimming at the pool. The postcards were then stamped and addressed to an anonymous PO Box that I hired. As I travel around London, I distribute them on public transport. These stamped postcards have a call to action, asking the finder to respond to the quote on the front. By doing this, I relinquish control and invite participation in the form of an anonymous exchange. So far, of the 250 postcards I have left on public transport, around 1/5 have been returned with poignant handwritten messages.