When a praying mantis comes in the mail: How Indians are breathing life into letters again

There is a particular kind of excitement reserved for seeing your name handwritten on an envelope It could contain a letter a tiny illustration a postcard a sticker a poem or something you have no idea you ordered For a growing number of people that little envelope is becoming a monthly appointment with artFor illustrator Sefi George who runs Letters from the Wild the appeal began with something simple ldquoI love receiving mails Itrsquos such a rare thing these days And I get very excited when I get one myselfrdquoHer quarterly mail club sends out illustrated letters centred on wildlife Each edition features an animal with a personality and a story There is a lovestruck praying mantis wondering whether to approach a female mantis and a Gen Zstyle kingfisher waiting to get out of its hole Alongside the illustrated letter are a sticker a colouring postcard and an activity related to the creature from board games to word searchesHarneet Kaur right another subscriber says ldquoI definitely think this is a great way of collecting art and supporting small artists because I think itrsquos patronage that you just pay in installmentsrdquoldquoAs an illustrator since I have the opportunity to make it why not just give it a gordquo George says Everything is made specifically for the club ldquoAs of now Irsquove been making everything from scratch for the clubrdquo she says ldquoThere is an illustrated letter Itrsquos a narrative from the point of view of the animal and it has illustrations all around that tell a story There is a sticker a colouring postcard and an activity that is linked to the creaturerdquoThat little envelope is considerably more labourintensive than it looks George says it takes around two days to put together a complete set with each element printed on separate paper and then cut There are four or five particularly hectic days every month when she is printing Yet she says the process of researching writing and turning information into something accessible to children is what she enjoys mostAnd the people on the receiving end arenrsquot simply buying an illustration They are becoming part of the processArtist Megha Saji right who runs The Kumo Mail Club from Kerala began hers after discovering mail clubs online What attracted her was the idea of sharing a piece of everyday life with a strangerFor Mumbaibased subscriber Amruta Chad that exchange is precisely the point She subscribes to several mail clubs and has turned receiving them into something of an office ritual When a new envelope arrives colleagues gather around for the opening ldquoAnd then we have a whole show and tell of opening the mail going through all the artworkrdquo she saysChad puts some of the postcards up on a wall at home and at work changes them around periodically and sometimes gives them to friends ldquoI like to collect different artworks I donrsquot have a very big house you know how it is in Mumbai But I like to keep changing the artwork that I put uprdquoThere is she says a difference between buying a postcard and subscribing to the person who made it Her subscriptions typically cost around Rs 500 to Rs 550 a month Individual postcards from some of these artists cost around Rs 150 to Rs 300 she says making the additional amount feel less like a purchase and more like a contribution to the artistrsquos ongoing practiceAmruta Chad right puts some of the postcards up on a wall at home and at work changes them around periodically and sometimes gives them to friendsldquoI would definitely say Irsquom supporting the artistrsquos practice when I subscriberdquo Chad says ldquoIrsquove spoken to some artists and itrsquos a way for them to experiment without getting too serious about itrdquoThat is perhaps where these tiny envelopes begin to resemble something bigger than stationery They offer a lowcost version of patronage Instead of spending thousands on a single artwork a subscriber commits a smaller amount regularly and in return gets to follow an artistrsquos work over timeHarneet Kaur another subscriber describes it even more directly ldquoI definitely think this is a great way of collecting art and supporting small artists because I think itrsquos patronage that you just pay in installmentsrdquoKaur knows both sides of the equation A marketing professional who was on a career break she started her own mail club after noticing the resurgence of snail mail and creatorled postal projects abroad She ran it for three months before becoming increasingly interested in the wider world of philately and postal culture She has since subscribed to seven Indian mail clubs mdash Art Land of Juno Bangalore The Antaral Post Jamshedpur PostaCard Mumbai Paper n Prism Kolkata Mayrsquos Snail Mail Nagercoil Imaginistaa Snailmail Club Thiruvananthapuram Mail Studio Co JaipurThe first time she received all seven she had just returned from a holiday ldquoThey all came when I was not in town So I came and they were just laid under my door all seven of themrdquoThe sight made her unexpectedly emotional ldquoWe used to see all of this in the movies that people are getting letters Because Irsquom 36 years old so I definitely havenrsquot seen letters passed around And it has kind of filled me with so much joy I canrsquot tell yourdquo She photographed the colourful envelopes and sent the pictures to her parents ldquoI donrsquot think anything else has given me so much joy as these letters haverdquoThe joy however isnrsquot simply nostalgia There is something about the physicality of the objects that changes how they are valued ldquoI think you see something on Instagram even if itrsquos an illustration I donrsquot think yoursquoll remember it in a minutersquos timerdquo Kaur says ldquoBut this art I plan to frame and put on my walls so that itrsquos going to stay there for a whilerdquoThe experience begins even before the envelope is opened ldquoEverything is put together really thoughtfully It exists for a reason even the packaging the envelope the theme everything is very very thoughtfully and carefully put togetherrdquo For artists the model also offers something that selling individual works online may not a little predictability George says that although the club isnrsquot a meaningful source of income yet the subscription model allows artists to price work more accessibly because they have some assurance that there will be buyersArtist Megha Saji who runs The Kumo Mail Club from Kerala began hers after discovering mail clubs online What attracted her was the idea of sharing a piece of everyday life with a strangerldquoThat feeling of receiving letters and reading that feeling that someone is therehellip I wanted to bring that backrdquo she says Sajirsquos envelopes contain letters art prints bookmarks postcards and little activities Her recurring theme is nature inspired by growing up in Kerala She is only three months into the club but already has repeat customersYet she isnrsquot thinking of those subscribers primarily as patrons ldquoI see them as my friendsrdquo she says explaining how mail clubs also allow people to build a more tangible relationship with an artistThat might be the most charming thing about these clubs The transaction is there but it doesnrsquot feel like the whole point The subscriber gets something tangible to keep the artiste gets a small community to create for and somewhere between the two a stranger becomes familiarSaji says the part she enjoys most is imagining the person receiving her letter ldquoWhen Irsquom putting the mail together Irsquom thinking about the other person and what I should write to make them smilerdquoEven the packing gives her joy she says because she imagines how they will open it and feelIn a time when much of our relationship with art happens through screens these mail clubs ask for something wonderfully oldfashioned a little patienceYou subscribe you wait you watch the India Post tracking and then one day an envelope arrivesChad even knows which artiste is likely to be sending something based on the location it is travelling from ldquoI track just to see whether itrsquos the Sleepy Cat Post or Stoberimoo just to know who is sending it and where my next mail is coming fromrdquo And then comes the best part opening it ldquoItrsquos like a mystery art that you get every month and itrsquos delivered to your doorsteprdquo she says ldquoYou donrsquot have to go anywhere you just have to subscribe to it and itrsquos at the cost of a coffee and a sandwichrdquoPerhaps that is the new art collector these clubs are creating mdash someone who doesnrsquot necessarily have gallery walls a large budget or a vocabulary for contemporary art Just a small space on the wall a few hundred rupees to spare and an appetite for surpriseKaur puts it simply ldquoI donrsquot think there is anybody who is not into collecting art They might not know that they are doing itrdquo