What started as a falling-out between one Champlain College student and her best friend has become an art project and opening Saturday, April 4 at MaglianeroCaf茅 in Burlington.
Amanda Schroth, a senior majoring in professional writing at Champlain, was contemplating her senior capstone project when she and her best friend got into a fight. This spurred her to write her thoughts on a postcard, which she never sent. 鈥淚 found a photograph that kind of reflected what I wanted to say and that鈥檚 how they came together. I put them together as my final project,鈥� she explains.
The project has grown from a senior capstone to a full-fledged public exhibit called Postcards Never Sent, which is a collection of black-and-white photographs and written word.
Schroth uses social media to solicit submissions of others' secrets and unspoken sentiments, then couples them with black-and-white photographs of public and hidden places in Burlington. 鈥淚 just went around asking people, 鈥楧o you want to submit a secret?鈥� And a lot of people were very receptive to it,鈥� she says.
The young artist says there will be a wide range of secrets at the exhibit. 鈥淪ome light-hearted ones and some a little more serious,鈥� she says. The postcards and photographs will be hung up with clothespins and some will be framed. 鈥淎lmost as if they had been sent and what someone might do with them when they got them,鈥� says Schroth.
Are contributors nervous for their secrets to be displayed publicly? 鈥淚 think because they have that safety blanket of being anonymous, it鈥檚 a little more comforting,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 do have a couple people telling me they are actually very excited to see their work hanging up with other people鈥檚. And that鈥檚 another part of why I think they are so comfortable with it, because they aren鈥檛 the only one submitting.鈥� Schroth surpassed her goal of collecting 40 secrets for her project and will be displaying 66 in the exhibit.
Schroth says the photographs of Burlington help enhance the emotion or message that鈥檚 being portrayed in the postcards, as well as localize the project. 鈥淲hat I wanted to capture was Burlington and sort of the secrets and the well known spots,鈥� she says. She includes Church Street, but also a picture of a bike that鈥檚 not there anymore, describing these as 鈥減assing moments,鈥� just like the secrets. 鈥淲hat I wanted to display was how everyone鈥檚 words are all the same, in the sense that we all want to say them but we just don鈥檛 have the courage to,鈥� says Schroth.
"I want it to be about the community I鈥檓 a part of, and I want to connect the community in as many ways as I can." - Amanda Schroth, photographer
This is Schroth鈥檚 first professional exhibit and she says she is very thankful. 鈥淚t鈥檚 still amazing to think that this is happening, especially as just a senior in college. I can鈥檛 describe how excited I am,鈥� she says.
The college senior says she is returning home after graduating, but that she still has plans to continue Postcards Never Sent, targeting it towards wherever she ends up. 鈥淚t is one of the those projects that I want it to be about the community I鈥檓 a part of, and I want to connect the community in as many ways as I can, and Postcards so far has been the best way for me to do it,鈥� she explains.
As for the exhibit in Burlington, Schroth hopes those who submitted secrets will experience a release. 鈥淚 know that it helped for me, with mine, and I also want the viewers to have that reflective part of themselves to connect with the postcards and say, 鈥榊es, I wanted to say that too.鈥� Or, to even think, 鈥榃as that for me?鈥� In a way I hope it encourages people either to open up or to find a way to start saying those words, even if it鈥檚 not to the person,鈥� she says.
Postcards Never Sent opens Saturday, April 4 at 6:30 p.m. at Maglianero Cafe in the Karma Bird House at 47 Maple Street in Burlington.
A gallery catalog of the exhibit will be available from .
