This week I had to send an Art Care Package to someone that was important to me, and within the envelope I needed to encapsulate something that was personal to me. I decided to mail my care package to my boyfriend Daniel back in Santa Barbara California. This art care package contained images of Daniel and I throughout our relationship!

To me the similarities between sending someone an ACP and sending someone a Snapchat is the difference between sending someone a letter vs an email. Sending someone an ACP is personal and a way of showing someone that you care. This ACP is a way to connect with someone over the end of the world, just like a snapchat. They are both a way of communicating with each other, and it’s not limited to only a message, it is with both of these that we are able to message each other back and forth as well as sending videos and images.

Now although Snapchat and ACP are similar they are also very different. Within Snapchat you can only view the video or image for the allotted time that was given but after that it disappears and can never be recovered. This is exactly why the ACP is more special, because it can stay for a lifetime. Another difference is that an ACP depending on the size can take some time to get to its location up to weeks, where as a Snapchat is instantaneous. Another difference is that a Snapchat can be put on your story for everyone to see and you can also send the same snap to multiple, however, with an ACP you can only send it to one person unless you make multiple of them.

I do believe that ephemera is precious depending upon who and what you are sending to someone. Depending on what you send to someone I assume that it can gain value over time for what you send. I am sending a care package of memories between my boyfriend and I. From the first movie ticket we went to, to our arcade tickets, as well as the bowling scores from our first time bowling surrounded by our bracelet from our professional soccer game, and many photos to capture our memories together. To Daniel this ephemera will mean a lot and will hopefully last a lifetime, something we can cherish. To me a parking ticket would mean nothing from my grandma, but a bracelet from a woodstock concert would definitely hold some history and would be cool to see later in life. If one day I were to send my grandkids a bracelet from coachella I think it would be an interesting item to put in an ACP because it shows what kind of person you were back in your day.

I do believe that there are some similarities as well as differences between the art that is placed in the Museum of Modern Art as opposed to the ACP. It is here in an ACP that the artwork is more intimate as opposed to being out in the open for everyone to see. An ACP can be seen as almost a scrapbook, composed of multiple pieces of history, or memories, where as a piece of artwork in a museum is one piece, and put up for everyone to see.

I honestly think that having a physical copy of a piece of artwork in your hands is more meaningful than having a photo sent to your phone. The snapchat expires after the allotted time, something that is instantaneous is special in thought but I think that there is excitement of getting something in the mail. Something that is unexpected rather than your phone buzzing in your pocket when someone sends you a snapchat. Snapchat is better in a way that you can communicate back and forth very easily and quickly but other than that in my opinion Snapchat isn’t really better than an ACP.

I think that you can prepare a meal with love and the time it takes can be a variable however it shouldn’t be the main determinant. Granted something that takes longer to prepare might be more so seen as made with love rather than something that was created instantly. I think that an APC has more “love” put into it than a snapchat, on the other hand the simple gesture of sending someone a snapchat can also be seen as sharing love. So in a way they can both be a gesture of love. img_1381