I’ve known Madeleine since we were both about eight years old. But I never visited her family home, and so never set foot in the room she described as her “territory”.
Nobody knew that space, she said, “except for me…even my family who lived under the same roof.” When I interviewed Madeleine for this project, she told me about her new place, too. It was her own house and, while still her “sanctuary”, the extra space it gave her made her feel like “life had just expanded”.
Almost 10 years after Madeleine told me her story, I sent her these postcards in return. They record the things about our conversation that stuck in my mind, as well as some of things that Madeleine actually said.
Madeleine has written frankly about her thoughts when she first saw the cards. Reading them, she saw all the places she’s lived as “‘boxes within boxes’….each fitting into the box of things we label as our experience of ‘home’. I find myself wondering, hoping, that there is still room for more boxes within this box.”
Postcards from before 