Artist bids goodbye to Danish postal system

2 hours ago

Hattie McCannDevon

The exhibition is called Med Venlig Hilsen which translates to With Kind Regards

BBC Gillian Taylor, who has red hair and is wearing purple, stands in front of her art installation. The daisies made from the letters hang on fishing wire from the ceiling of the stairwell. — The exhibition is called Med Venlig Hilsen which translates to With Kind Regards

A paper artist has used letters sent to her in the final days of letter delivery by the Danish national postal system to create an art installation of hanging daisies.

Gillian Taylor, from Cockwood, in Devon, has spent time in Denmark and several of her Danish friends have contributed to the exhibition, as have strangers who have shared their memories of opening and reading letters.

The exhibition called Med Venlig Hilsen, which translates to With Kind Regards, is being held at the Thelma Hulbert Gallery in Honiton.

"Lots of people have gone away and written letters as a result of this because they realised that if we don't use our own postal service then we might lose it as well," she said.

The letter senders included artworks of their own and took the opportunity to use up their stamps

A pile of envelopes lie on the table. A yellow envelope has a line drawing of a person waving goodbye to a postbox. One envelope has a pencil sketch of a collie dog in a cardboard box. One has 14 different stamps on it. Also on the table is a folded letter with a small paper cut out of a cherub. — The letter senders included artworks of their own and took the opportunity to use up their stamps

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The national postal service PostNord said Denmark was one of the world's most digitalised countries and email and phone apps were now the preferred methods of communication.

PostNord stopped its letter delivery service in December 2025 and now only delivers parcels.

One of Taylor's friends tried to send her a letter on the final day of the service, only to find the post box had already been removed and had to send it by courier via Austria which took two months.

Gillian Taylor used the stamps as the centre of the daisies and the letters and envelopes for the petals

Gillian Taylor A curtain of paper daisies hangs in the stairwell. Some are in focus, others are blurred in the background. There is visible handwriting across the petals of the daisies. — Gillian Taylor used the stamps as the centre of the daisies and the letters and envelopes for the petals

When she received post, Taylor used the stamps as the centre of the daisies and the letters and envelopes for the petals.

The artist said she chose the daisy because it is the national flower of Denmark and also represented hope.

"This project has made me think about the way I communicate with old friends and although this is a really sad moment, I'm an optimistic person and I like to offer that hope for the future and that we will return to those more personal ways of communicating," she said.

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