THE SEPTA LETTERS
You know when someone just stands out to you? How do you approach the person and communicate with them without disrupting that moment? The Septa Letters is about that, complied with a little bit of love, mystery, poetry, and the magic of the internet.
The Septa Letters is a document of episodes in perception as performed on Philadelphia’s SEPTA rail. In my performance, episodes are initiated by passing a simple handwritten letter to a passenger that stands out to me. The letter is signed with my email address. Some passengers email me back. By the medium of email replies, fellow passengers construct a select panorama of their lives. The Septa Letters were complied over the course of one year and printed as a column in The Philadelphia Independent. The Septa Letters action included performance controls: No verbal exchange to or near the passenger. Letter must be kind and handwritten. Do not respond to emails in effort to preserve a singular identity.
Below are excerpts from the book.
Performed on SEPTA subway and trains
Documented by Liz Rywelski and The Philadelphia Independent
Edited by Matt Schwartz, Loren Hunt, and Liz Rywelski
Compiled Series Published by FREENEWSPROJECTS, Edition of 500Limited Edition of 10, signed and containing a SEPTA token by LR
This collection of letters was first published as a column titled, The Septa Letter’s, in The Philadelphia Independent, from January 2004 through to TPI’s final issue in February 2005. I would like to thank the industrious Matt Schwartz and Jacob Weinstein for their dedication to good idea’s. My risky habit of needing to know details behind the source of what attracts would have never made it to words if not for their faith in long hours, fine work, and good reading. -LR