Research - Erin Jane Nelson

Erin Jane Nelson is an American photographer I came across while reading a blog. She has some very quirky, interesting ideas and one that I thought was relevant for this project. Her own project "To all Erin Nelsons" is fantastic.

In January 2009 she found all the Erin Nelsons she could across America whom had a mailing address listed. She wrote a letter to each one, posting 243 of them at her local post boxes. She left her own address on the letters and waited to see what happened.



By the middle of January she was receiving mail, though sadly it was just her own letters being returned to her. However, in the middle of March she got a reply. One that out of the 13 she did get, wasn't just her own letter. Inside the envelope was a receipt, ink smudged and from a clerk's office for a marriage certificate. It also had a photograph of the bride and written on the back was the day she became Erin Nelson.



I'm not exactly sure what she put in the letters, but it's an interesting way of addressing identity and self. You tend to think about yourself as singular and it's easy to forget other people share your name. I'm guessing she began to wonder how similar or not they were to her. The response is also interesting, showing that many people just don't trust things they don't know, no matter how innocent or not they are.