The final chapter of Denmark's 400-year-old postal service has been marked not just by headlines, but by a poignant artistic project from across the North Sea. As PostNord delivered its last letters on 30 December, citing society's "increasing digitalisation," a British paper artist began collecting the closing dispatches to preserve a fading cultural ritual.
An Artistic Response to a Historic Closure
Gillian Taylor, a specialist in paper art based in Devon, felt the termination of Denmark's letter delivery and the removal of its iconic post boxes represented a profound cultural shift. To commemorate the moment, she launched a public appeal just before the service ended, asking Danes to send one last letter to her PO Box in Exeter, Devon.
She invited contributions of any kind: a lengthy epistle, a brief greeting, a postcard, or even just an empty, addressed envelope. The response was both surprising and moving, with many respondents taking evident care over their final postal offerings.
Memories Enclosed: The Stories Within the Letters
The envelopes that arrived in Exeter contained far more than ink on paper; they held personal histories and collective nostalgia. Many correspondents expressed sadness at the service's end. One included a hand-drawn map marking the last three post box locations in her town, reminiscing about the childhood ritual of selecting postcards, composing messages, and buying stamps.
"Receiving mail was even more exciting, especially post from abroad with different stamps and postmarks," the writer told Taylor. "I feel it’s a shame that the generations to come will never be able to send or receive a handwritten card or letter."
Another letter recounted the unique hygge of family gatherings around the kitchen table, the scent of coffee in the air, as a mother read aloud letters from her sister in Norway. The writer, who had recognised her aunt's handwriting before she could even read, reflected on her mother's quiet homesickness.
The correspondence revealed deep, personal connections to the physical post. A 67-year-old woman described waiting eagerly for the postman as a teenager, maintaining lifelong pen pal friendships, and even writing to a prisoner serving a life sentence in America. Another writer referenced Danish philosopher Villy Sørensen's short story, "The Missing Letters," noting its fictional premise had now become a stark reality.
Forging Art from Ephemera: 'Med Venlig Hilsen'
Taylor, whose previous work has incorporated WWII love letters and large paper poppy installations, will now transform this collection of Danish letters and their envelopes into a new artwork. The piece is to be titled "Med Venlig Hilsen" (With Kind Regards).
She hopes to exhibit the finished work in both the UK and Denmark, creating a tangible bridge between the two nations and a lasting monument to a discontinued practice. The project serves as an archive of human emotion and connection, meticulously sealed and stamped, capturing the intimate discipline of ordering one's thoughts on paper for a distant reader—an act that has now passed into history in Denmark.
