I got a letter

"I got a letter in the post which comes from home". This is what this photograph seems to say. That I got a letter in the post is quite a straight reading, I am holding it in my hands. That it comes from home is not that obvious as the viewer cannot see who the sender is. However, there is a sign which points the audience in the right way, the photograph of the door-knockers in the foreground.

A door-knocker is an element to call for someone's attention, to get open the house door, to be invited to go into the house to pay a visit. That is what a letter does, it pays a visit to the receiver. Once the envelop is left in my letterbox it has started knocking the door; when the sender's name is read, the house door is opened and I know who the visitor is; if the sender is welcomed I open the envelop and start reading its content. The visit has started and with it a conversation; time is consumed reading the letter whilst memories are brought back to my mind or I am informed about the latest news.

There is a dedication in the photograph which says "Desde Cádiz para Javier. El cariño siempre" (From Cádiz to Javier. Always affection). As the link between the door-knockers and the letter is already done, this touch of affection could be extrapolated to the letter and, therefore, to the sender. So, the sender is somebody who loves me and, presumably, loved by me; in other words, the sender is somebody sentimentally close.

How important the sender is is described by the fact that I have gave up doing everything else to focus on the letter, in order to be able to read it without interruptions or disturbances. This is reinforced by the place I have chosen to read the letter, the bedroom, a place of intimacy, a place to which the viewer is partially welcomed - the room door is only partially open and the room itself is not fully shown. The door is a symbol of passage from one place to another, in this case, from a public one, the living-room, to a private one, the bedroom. The fact that the door is more open than close highlights that the viewer is still welcomed although I want to keep some intimacy. It is not a moment to interact with the viewer and the audience is not allowed to interfere in such an special occasion (if it was possible).

The body language and the way I am holding the envelop suggest that the letter has brought some melancholia, a sad feeling which is either hidden or avoided during the busyness of the day but which comes to the surface at night time. The fact that the lamp by the window is on places the action in this time frame, the moment of the day in which one is more emotionally vulnerable.

Apart from the bed, there is not other visible furniture and there is not many decorative elements either, which creates a sense of austerity. The curtains are flower-patterned, which does not completely suit the fact that the person in the photograph is a man - who would have opted for a less feminine pattern. This may suggest that I am not in my own environment; that although it is my room as it is the place which I have chosen to have some intimacy and read the letter, that is not my house and I have not made it my home.

So, if I am not at home, where is my home? By the way the arrival of the letter has affected my emotions, the viewer may guess that home is where the letter comes from.