I’ll Explain It To You…

Here is a DADA Postcard, collage art that I created for the Strenču FOTO Darbnīca exhibition “Equidistant from the Sun”, that took place in August 2024 at the Strenči, Latvia organized by Belgian photographer, Thomas Vandenberghe as part of a “visual conversation with artists across Latvia”. That snowballed into a worldwide call for mail-art and the resulting show. Generally, I just make my DADA posts for friends, but occasionally will submit one to a mailart exhibition. The mail-art movement has deep connections with the zine and comix scene, particularly “back-in-the-day”, pre-internet era when the post was the only means of distributing your work over long distances. I often write a poem to go with the image. Here is what I wrote to accompany that image.

They Will Explain It To You
First they said, “lower your eyes”
Next they said, “bow your head”
And now, “get on your knees”
Now, “press your forehead to the ground”
And this last bit was too on the nose,
but they said, “beg”
and then…
and then…
and then…

OK HW