- Series
- 1975-2019
Part of Anna Banana fonds
In the mid-1980s, Anna Banana began to seriously consider ways that she might be able to create income outside of performance art. Using skills she learned while working at printers and publishers in San Francisco and Vancouver, Banana began to create and sell artistamps, and collected multiple artistamps created by others. Artistamps are a kind of Cinderella stamp used often in mail art, which differ from forgeries or other illegal stamps in that they do not intent do defraud authorities or stamp collectors, but rather are created with the intent to be art. They make up an important aspect of the mail art genre. Banana’s activities often included the production and use of artistamps, especially after she gained access to perforation machines and colour printing in the 1980s.
This series is made up of many of her artistamp sheets, as well as various sketches, final drawings, and printer transparencies created during the process of artistamp production, as well as stamps collected from others.