Return Banana from Anna

The other day we had a visitor come for a few days.  I had never met him, he works with Patrick but I felt like I knew him from overheard Skype calls. After dinner one night I tried to explain mail art, by showing him examples.  The visitor was French and lives in Tanzania.  He was open to mail art, but what perplexed him was that he thought from my description (obviously faulty) that there was no correspondence in mail art.  This return banana is proof that even if it takes a few months some of us correspond.  For me, mail art is one way only if the person you send to doesn't respond. But what is responding? Soemtimes I don't have time at the very moment I delight in something to blog it or respond to it.  But at the moment I delight I have responded…  Ideally, for me, mail art is about communicating, sometimes with words, sometimes with images, sometimes with ideas sometimes with all and more. 

I sent Anna a sewn banana and an mini banana book, 'Almost a Banana' a few months ago.  While Anna's art life revolves around bananas, mine goes bananas annually. So it's encouraging to get a note on the back of the postcard where Anna thanks me for my mini-book and says,  'I love the variations I receive… on bananas — a truly amazing demonstration of human and human creativity.'

Anna also told me about other artisst who stitch their mail art.  One artist, Angela Behrendt even stitches banana stamps! Anna included a generous supply of stamps too!  Many many thanks!