Postcards are meant to encapsulate time spent in a certain location. They’re often representations of par- ticular places, depicting images that might be nice, yet ordinary or stereotypical. In hand-embroidering this selection of postcards, I’m modifying the existing pictures by incorporating fiction into the reality of the images, thereby adding interest to the image, improving on the existing picture, or offering a bit of humour to the scene.

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The embroidered element also adds an extra dimension to the existing photograph. Fixing the postcards with embroidery thread is a labour-intensive process that pushes the boundaries of traditional embroidery. While the front of the postcard presents a tidy image, in viewing the back, we can see an elaborate mess, which indicates the work that went into creating the image on the front. While I did bring some postcards with me to Mexico, most of the ones I chose to work with here came from antique markets in Mexico City. My intervention on this set of postcards will hopefully provoke thought on the way places are represented though images.