vol 1 / nr 75 / Leiden, The Netherlands

Jelmer attended a Language School for one month, when one day he found the letter on the same street (Via Martelli, Florence) where the school is situated. He tells Ten minutes after I opened the enveloppe the rain was falling down.. Now the print is on his bookshelf in his home in Leiden.

vol 1 / nr 70 / Munich, Germany

Anne told me how she ended up finding the print: I found your print in the Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata while holding my little baby very close. It evoked a strange feeling being adressed like that, I quickly checked around, "was this a mistake?" Somehow I had been in a floating mood all this day (despite the fact that we had crashed my mother`s car the day before or because of this) and then in this beautiful church, this mysterious letter, this promising and trusting "to you,whoever you are" - it seemed like the start of a fairytale.

Our daughter has a little corner where she lies and kicks her little chubby legs around the air and we have put your tree there for her to see. It`ll be a little story to tell her when she is older, to enweb her in a little bit of magic.

vol 1 / nr 66 / Beveren-Leie, Belgium

Karel wrote a funny story about how they had perceived the letter first. He was taking a position for a photoshoot at Battistero di San Giovanni (behind the Duomo) in Siena, when Hilde looked for a close-up of me on these steps and she saw next to me your strange envelope. She found it a great idea to take a picture of me, with the envelope... I had seen the envelope as well, but first I couldn't read the words Random art quite well and I made an interpretation like : Randsham ashi... -- "This must be something from an Indian religious group...

But after the picture was taken, Karel opened the envelope and was quite surprised of its content. He has the print on his desk now, and I do enjoy it when I'm writing and the tree doesn't feel so deserted any more, I hope.

Envelope seen on the stairs - still unopened

"During the time I was opening your envelop, Hilde took a picture of the statue of San Giovanni"

After the envelope was opened...

vol 1 / nr 26 / Briarcliff Manor, New York, USA

Artist and professional photographer Don Penny sent me a long email with lots of warm words about the project. He wrote about how he found the print: "Walking the alleys of Florence I looked down to see this crisp, white envelope, in stark contrast o its dusty surroundings, leaning up against a centuries old foundation. Instinctively I reached down to see what it was and upon opening it was engaged and excited to find a beautiful print, intimate and soothing in subject, size and color."

"To create a thing of beauty and then, to offer it, without condition or expectation to any random stranger willing to stop and interact with the non discript envelope is an act of inspired generosity."

"I am a firm believer that it is not what we can get, what we can take in life, but rather what we leave behind."

All the prints are now travelling...

...and some of them have already found a new home. This was a very strange day: it was the first one when I didn't have any letters left to leave anywhere and it felt a bit odd.

To this day I have received 15 replies, that is, at least 1/6 of all the prints have found a good home already :) I'm not expecting all founders to leave message for me, but I'm happy that there are already so many who have done so!

I'm getting soon back home (to Jyväskylä, Finland) and I'll make a map and collect some stories together as soon as I've settled in and got my bags unpacked.

vol 1 / nr 62 / Clodig, Italy

18 year old Stefania wrote me a long email where she tells how his father had found the letter in front of the Santa Maria Novella church in Florence and he brought it home to a small village of 60 people, called Clodig. The village is situated in the north eastern Italy, in Friuli Venezia Giulia, 2kms from the Slovenian border - and Stefania tells that they speak both italian and slovenian languages.

In her email she writes about things that my picture has brought to her mind - it really has brought up a lot of thoughts. She tells that it remainded her of "those photos in which there are 2 photos one on the other, so that at the same time you see two different things."

Her email ends with the words: "maybe a lot of people in this world are alone as the trees."

vol 1 / nr 81 / Florence, Italy

Ale Di Gangi found the envelope in Via dei Pucci 49r and he was "*so* happy to be the lucky person who spotted it." He mounted the picture and it is now hanging on his wall.

Ale Di Gangi is a artist himself. View his website at aledigangi.com and his photos at Flickr www.flickr.com/photos/ale2000/

ps. the possible exhibition - mostra di foto Polaroid di ale di gangi / 20 + 1 scatti scelti - 2007/2010
Exhibit 5 - Firenze 16.10.-5.11.2010
presso, Libreria Seeber - Melbookstore, Via De' Cerretani, 16, Firenze




Edit: November 7, 2010 - I received image of the print hanging on Ale Di Gangi's home -

About 30 prints left

...That is: 2/3 of all the prints are now somewhere travelling.

Since I'm using quite slow mobile web, making the map of the whereabouts of prints has been more difficult than I thought. The map and comments have to wait until I'll get back to better connection - still about one week.

I haven't set any date for leaving a message and it is totally optional anyway, but I'm of course glad of every response I get! I have to say: I'm already very satisfied on how many responses I've already got; many of them with a little story.

Tomorrow I'll be leaving these prints somewhere in Sienna.

vol 1 / nr 44 / Lucca, Italy

Melanie lives in Holland but she didn't keep the print for herself but gave it to a very dear person who lives in Lucca, Italy.

vol 1 / nr 45 / London, England

David found the print in Florence, where he spent a "blissful 4 days with a girl that I love dearly. Love your project, it made me smile and your print will always remind me of a magical time."

vol 1 / nr 87 / Florence, Italy

Jessica is an American artist living and working in Italy. After finding the print she wrote: "I am a week over my due date in my pregnancy and I went out for a walk in hopes to get things going. As I shuffled along the streets of Florence, I saw your envelope in a doorway."

Jessica has lived in several countries and even though the print is now located in Florence, it will most likely continue to move around with Jessica's family.