The Thousands

Tasmania is a wonderous place I once visited, and do you know what I found there? Apart from rugged wilderness, opp shops, homophobes and cheese (oh, the cheese)? Ridiculous letterboxes. This is where the photography of Lauren Bamford comes in.

The mailboxes I saw in Wilmot (the novelty letterbox capital of Australia, true story) gave off an air both whimsical and horrifying. One had a washing basket tummy and a draining pipe that made it look like it was peeing in a bucket. But Lauren’s photos of Tassie’s farm gate landscapes and produce stands are beautiful.

They do capture some of that emptiness I felt, though. Or, as Lauren puts it, “unease and discontent.” Or, as Peter Conrad puts it, “The farm, to me a playland, was to those who worked on it an onerous dead-end.” The signs might say “$2 kilo bag artichokes” – but they really mean “I hope you choke.”