This is a piece for film with live score. I also created an accompanying zine featuring the text from the film.
All the text from this film is taken from the stamp collecting subreddit r slash philately. In 2025, I purchased a sealed bag of 1000 stamps, originally being sold by WH Smith as a stamp collection, from a vintage furniture shop. I originally intended to make a very different piece with them, discussing the commodification of living an interesting life, through trend cycles attempting to sell the curated image of a life well lived online. I thought, why would anyone purchase a whole stamp collection? Is the point not about the process of travelling, of corresponding, of collecting?
I wanted to find out what real stamp collectors thought of these pre-packaged collections and ended up on reddit. There, I was struck by the same dynamic appearing over and over again, of young people who had either inherited stamp collections and wanted to properly care for them, or wanted to start but did not know how, anxiously asking questions and keen to not get anything wrong. These questions were repeatedly met by the advice that appears in the piece: there’s no wrong way to do things, no one but you will likely care and there’s certainly no money to made in it, so work out what makes you happy and find joy and inspiration in the cultivation of that personal practice. I found this advice profound, optimistic, and greatly reassuring.