The 'Postcards to the Future' project, revived by Carol Shenk and Maria Sund, invites participants to express their current lives and thoughts for the future through art on postcards. Stemming from a societal anxiety, the initiative seeks to harness personal expression in times of change. Spearheaded in Newport, Oregon, the project aims to highlight political sentiments and individual experiences. It culminates in an exhibition July 4-6, with submissions contributing to the Lincoln County Historical Society archives, fostering a collective conversation about the future and memories.
For Sund, who immigrated from El Salvador to the U.S. during El Salvador's political turmoil in the 1980s, the postcard project was inspired by a desire for people to speak up about the political situation in the U.S. today. "We should be honest about how we feel," said Sund, a U.S. citizen. "There are people who are not happy with this administration, and so they should say what bothers them. For me, this country has been so great, and for many people this has been such a wonderful country full of so many promises - if you work hard, you make it. Now, it's not like that. It's different."
The project grew out of the sense of a "general anxiety," Shenk said. "There is so much change going on right now in the world and in our country, and the feeling of needing to use art to express that."
Postcards to the Future asks, "What would you want to share with the future about your life today?" The project by Carol Shenk and Maria Sund invites people to answer that question via postcard with images and text addressing the past, their current lives, or their hopes and fears for the future.
The postcards will be exhibited from July 4-6 in the Don & Ann Davis Park gazebo in Newport, with a reception July 5. Afterward, the mail will become part of the Lincoln County Historical Society archives.
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