a chinwag with the clever cog behind aunty’s dispatch, a first nations-focused snail mail club

If you receive any mail at all these days, we’d hazard a guess it doesn’t necessarily scream “FUN”. Brandi Salmon – the rad creative behind Aunty’s Dispatch – is going to change that. The artist’s monthly snail mail club is nothing short of a parcel of joy in the mailbox. We caught up with Brandi to pick her brain about where Aunty’s Dispatch came from, why it’s important to capture Blak joy, and how it feels to send her letters all over the bloody world.Tell us a bit about you and what you do. My name is Brandi Salmon. I’m a proud Wiradjuri woman and artist. I love oil painting, and a lot of my work focuses on Aboriginal people, culture, identity and my own experiences as an Aboriginal woman. I don’t paint in my own traditional style because I was raised off Country in Victoria, while my traditional lands are around Dubbo in New South Wales. Because of that, painting has become a way for me to retrace my steps, reconnect with culture, and learn through my own experience.

I’ve been running my art business for about five years now, and around eight months ago I started my mail club, Aunty’s Dispatch. I love my small business and creating ways for people to connect with Aboriginal art and storytelling. I’m also a mum of two bubs, and I live on Palawa land near Nipaluna, Lutruwita, otherwise known as Hobart, Tasmania.

What prompted you to start Aunty’s Dispatch? I have pretty intense inattentive ADHD, and I was finding it hard to create consistently and stay connected with people through my art. So much of everything is online these days, and I was craving something slower and more personal. I’ve also always loved mail. I’m autistic, and snail mail has been one of my hyperfixations since I was a child. So I thought, why not bring it all together and create a snail mail club?

I also wanted to make something joyful for my people. Things have felt really heavy for us Blackfullas lately – politically and emotionally – and there have been so many negative things happening. I wanted Aunty’s Dispatch to be a little nugget of joy. Something whimsical, cute and positive. I wanted it to feel like sitting down with an aunty and having a yarn about life and what’s been going on.What kinds of things do you include in your monthly snail mail dispatch? Each month, I write a letter from my home studio. I create a new artwork, which is then turned into a print, and I write about the artwork in the letter. I also include a Blak History Spotlight, where I share one part of Aboriginal history, culture or a story involving Aboriginal people. Sometimes I include a sticker as well. Everything is made, printed, folded and packed by me from my home studio. It is all very handmade and personal, and I now send it out to around 560 subscribers.

Why has it been important to you to share these reflections and histories of Aboriginal culture with your subscribers? It has been important to me because I would love to educate through the mail club about Aboriginal histories and culture in a way that feels personal and accessible. Not everyone gets the chance to have direct contact with Aboriginal people, and a lot of what people might learn is through Google, social media or mainstream media. With Aunty’s Dispatch, I get to share stories and histories that interest me as a Blak woman, and hopefully they interest my pen pals too. About 50 to 60 per cent of my pen pals are now non-Indigenous allies, so I think it is really important to include these reflections. It feels like a gentle way to share culture, history and truth through something people can hold in their hands.Where is the furthest place you’ve sent your snail mail? And what does it feel like to have international subscribers that might not be as familiar with Australia’s Blak history? The furthest places I’ve sent Aunty’s Dispatch would probably be Germany and Palo Alto in California. I’ve also sent it to Honolulu and London. It feels really special to know that my work is travelling that far. It makes me realise that people do know we exist, not just here in Australia, but across the world.

Growing up as a young Blak girl, I had quite low self-esteem because of the representations and depictions of Aboriginal people in mainstream media. You can grow up feeling like the rest of the world doesn’t know you exist, or doesn’t see you properly. So it makes me really happy that people overseas are interested, not just in me, but in Aboriginal culture more broadly. I love that these stories and artworks are travelling not just across Country, but across the world.

Describe the perfect setting to pour over a parcel of mail from Aunty’s Dispatch. The perfect setting would be a sunny Sunday morning. You’re still in your PJs, the mail comes, and instead of the usual bill, you realise your Aunty’s Dispatch has arrived! You take it inside, make yourself a cuppa, sit in your favourite chair or by the coffee table, and slowly read through the letter and enjoy the art. That is what I love about it. It is something small, but it is handmade, personal and full of care. It is not AI. It is made by me, with so much love, sweat and tears poured into each letter. It is a little piece of joy in the mail.

Keen to read about more rad creative types? Spy our chat with issue 132 cover artist Enikő Eged or check out our chinwag with artist and Solid Lines co-founder Emrhan Tjapanangka Sultan. Plus, sign up to our newsletter for more goodness.