Finnish postal operator Posti is to make history next week when it releases the world’s first stamps that feature real graffiti. Other themes in the series will include climate change, symbols of Finnish nature, as well as parks in coastal cities.

The designs were drawn up last year. Posti granted its art award to Finnish graffiti artist EGS, who stamps are to be issued this September. One of the graffiti pieces was painted at an industrial area near Melbourne in Australia and another was painted on the side of the small truck in St Petersburg, Russia.

Internationally recognized and renowned artist EGS appreciates the fact that the stamps feature graffiti created in real environments. “Photographs are the best way to document real graffiti, which is always created at a specific time and place, and in a specific atmosphere. I don’t think the actual graffiti pieces depicted on the postage stamps exist anymore. It’s great that they can be given a new life in the form of a million postage stamps. EGS has been familiar with letters and stamps for many years. “I had more than a dozen pen pals all around the world, and we exchanged photos of graffiti. Now, I am going to send my old colleagues a bundle of photos in a first day cover with postage stamps that I have designed myself. It is a bit different from publishing digital photos on Instagram,” says EGS, smiling.

With the Art Award, valued at EUR 10,000, Posti is aiming toward an increased appreciation and status of both art and postage stamps. “With the Art Award, Posti is seeking artists outside the established postage stamp circles. EGS and his graffiti break the boundaries of conventional art. Visually, graffiti art suits stamps very well,” says Posti Design Manager Tommi Kantola. Posti’s Art Award 2017 was won by sculptor Jasmin Anoschkin.