‘The Postcard Project - First Love’ (2007)

An intervention into passenger journeys at six major rail stations by artists, Lucy Phillips and Claire Rhodes. One hundred participants were selected at random and instructed to write their ‘first love’ onto a postcard whilst on the train and send it back to the artists once they reached their destination. Once the distributed postcards travelled back to the artists through the postal system, they were collated into an album of responses categorised by rail station: Oxford, Paddington, Kings Cross, London Bridge, Waterloo and Victoria.

The postcards ranged from naming childhood sweethearts, holiday romances, current partners and even first pets. Some passengers drew their responses and others returned blank postcards. Notable ‘first loves’ included “The Beatles”, “late romantic 20th century classical music”, “Mr Darcy”, “Chelsea FC”, “The Lord God” and “George the Guinea Pig”. Some expressed regret and described complicated relationships - whereas others wrote about the innocence of young love. One response questioned the definition of ‘love’ and another confessed that they didn’t know if they’d experienced true love.