The Way with Correos
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The scenery, the variety of routes, villages and towns and their people, the values and experiences that arise along the way... The Camino de Santiago is full of inspiring, liberating moments, art and creativity. That’s why Camino con Correos has launched the 1st Call for Mail Art on the Camino de Santiago, focused on this millennial route that last year attracted more than 300,000 pilgrims.
This initiative turns the Camino de Santiago into a muse for artists who are involved in the mail art discipline or pilgrims who have taken – or will take – this route and want to express their experience in art. As of June, and until 30 September, you can send you art (created using any technique you like) to Post Office Box No. 18, Santiago de Compostela, CP 15702.
Obra de Sergi Cazeneuve. I Convocatoria de Mail Art sobre el Camino de Santiago
Mail art: the freedom to create – with a postmark!
So, what exactly is mail art? Mail art is a global movement for exchange and communication using postal services. Its main premise is freedom of artistic expression. Postcards, images, drawings, collages, poems... Any form of creation is valid when it comes to mail art. The only requirement is that it must be possible to send the work via post. In fact, the postmark itself becomes part of the artwork, modifying it and transforming it to add another dimension of meaning to the postal creation.
Mail art first emerged in the 1950s as a means of establishing a communications methods that would represent an alternative to the official art circuit. It became a network for the exchange of artworks sent using mail companies. The fact that artists use postal services to send their works conditions the characteristics of those works, meaning that Spain’s postal service, Correos, will also participate in the artistic process.
Work of Ricardo Fernández. 1st Call for Mail Art on the Camino de Santiago
1st Call for Mail Art on the Camino de Santiago
Anyone can take part in the 1st Call for Mail Art on the Camino de Santiago: artists, pilgrims, fans of the Way of Saint James or anyone else with an interest in mail art or the Camino.
You can send you art (created using any technique you like) to Post Office Box No. 18, Santiago de Compostela, CP 15702 up to the end of September. All works received will be displayed in a gallery within this website: (www.elcaminoconcorreos.com). Correos will look at the possibility of creating an exhibition with the works received that will visit various post offices.
Work of José María Alabart. 1st Call for Mail Art on the Camino de Santiago
Postal workers and the Apostle as major themes
The initiative was launched at the end of May, and the first Mail Art works have already begun to arrive. As might be expected, Saint James the Apostle features heavily in the works. The thousands of pilgrims who travel the various routes on the Camino year after year are another major theme. Also making an appearance are the postal workers who have trodden the same paths as those pilgrims and helped them with so many of their needs before, during and after their Camino with the services offered by Correos.
Scenery, monuments, signs and people: any motif related to the Camino de Santiago is welcome during this first edition of this initiative, the 1st Call for Mail Art on the Camino de Santiago. So don’t be shy! Let your artistic streak run wild, get creating on the Camino and send your mail art in before 30 September. We can’t wait to see your work!
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