Trinidad and Tobago's first exhibition of postal art–expressions of creativity that are mailed as easily and cheaply as a letter or postcard–at Bohemia in Woodbrook last year was a success, attracting more than 400 pieces from around the world, press attention and many visitors over the two weeks it ran between April and May.
But when asked what response she found most memorable, organiser Raquel Vasquez LaRoche chose none of these. Instead she recalled the reaction of the autistic children at the Strategic Learning and Special Education Institute in Trincity, whose teacher, Kristal Le Blanc, had them produce work for the exhibition as a therapeutic exercise.
"They felt really proud. They even had tears in their eyes," said LaRoche.
Postal or mail art is about inclusion, she explained. The movement began in the US in the 50s as part of the counterculture. Artists of any age or skill level mail creations of any form. The only restriction is that they're sent like a letter or postcard. Organisers of mail art exhibitions commit to using all submissions.
"It was something against art being for the elite," LaRoche said of the formation of the mail art movement. "It was to break those boundaries and to show that art is actually for everyone; everybody can do this. And you don't need art galleries; you don't need a museum to see art. You can have your own museum in your mailbox."
Last year's exhibition, which had been based on the theme Self-Portrait, featured submissions from people as young as four years old and as old as 86.
LaRoche, a graphic artist who was born in Venezuela but has resided in Trinidad since 2002, first heard of mail art in 2011 when she was invited to submit pieces for an exhibition in Chile. She realised that many people in T&T had not heard of the movement either, and she wanted to introduce it here.
She and her co-organiser, her brother Luis, found that one of the challenges was reintroducing participants to "snail mail."
"The postal service isn't really used any more except to send bills," she said. "So (we had) to explain to people (how to) go to TTPost and send it. That was a real challenge."
The exhibition last year included multiple forms of creativity, including poems, collages, photographs, paintings, sketches and prints, in a wide variety of styles and levels of complexity, all rendered small and light.
LaRoche is planning another exhibition and is inviting submissions. The theme for this one is I Had a Dream and it asks contributors "to represent with your creativity the world that exists only in your mind, that world you visit when you sleep or daydream."
LaRoche is encouraging the submission of work of any kind, even three-dimensional pieces.
"We're just asking for it not to be too big," she said.
More info: postalarttrinidad.com