david blackmore photographic portraits

The post box is an indelible symbol of national identity the world over. They have over time become ingrained in the collective psyche of a nation, just as green is associated with the Irish, red fulfils a similar role here in the Uk. When Éire gained independence from the UK people went out on to the streets and painted the post boxes [then red], green an act which represented the reclamation of a nation by its subjects and held a power similar to the red post box that withstood the IRA Manchester bombing to become a symbol of British resilience.

It is because post boxes have come to represent such a strong symbol of national identity that makes them the perfect symbol to illustrate an aspect of the European unions effect on the sense of national identity in its twenty-seven individual member states. Painting post boxes blue [the colour commonly associated with the EU] and thus changes their traditional role, as symbols of national identity and history. Presenting the public with a new ambiguous homogenised object. These blue post boxes are not anti-europe they just represent a observation of the possible trade off a united europe represents.