Last week
there was a slip in the P.O. Box forcing me to the counter so sign for some registered
mail. I wonder why would someone be sending
mail art that would be registered? It
was a big and fantastic envelope from Stanislav Semkin (aka Virgo)
in Russia. Virgo had some difficulties
getting mail through to me. I am so glad
he persisted.
I would appreciate
Virgo’s mail art wherever it came from.
But I especially like that it comes out of Russia. I think back to growing up in Cold War
America where the Soviet Union was portrayed as the Evil Empire. At an early age, I was already suspect of
America’s portrayal of the Soviet Union.
Was it all bad? My trips to
Eastern Europe in the 80’s, were mostly to Poland (I have never been to
Russia). My Polish relatives made a
great point of making me understand that they hated the Russian government but
really liked Russians. I have known some
awesome Russians myself. We always have
to remember that the people are not the government – even in more democratic
countries.
The Cold
War is in the past and, decades later, the American rightwing has moved on to
other bogeymen. Their fanatic support of
the White House occupant in Putin’s pocket is hard to fathom when you think
back to the days when their demigod Reagan was in power. But enough of that….
This is a
great thing about mail art, it fosters human connections. When governments behave badly, there may be
nothing more subversive than when humans connect in spite of the people wielding
power.
And no bots
are sending me mail art, only really cool people do that.
