small ads/classifieds/personals – the go-to place to get help whether you need money, a home, a plumber or a baby daddy . .

This is one of the sources for my study of public noticeboards. Anthropological treasures, they offer a commentary about a particular neighbourhood and about our society in general: They describe loneliness and need. They show us who is vulnerable and where social power lies.

The notices themselves are short stories – often poignant, sometimes funny and occasionally disturbing. The materiality of each physical notice creates a sort of portrait of the person behind it, the materials used, the syntax, spelling mistakes, changes and updates, handwriting, the idiosyncratic use of a typewriter all add to the richness of the stories.

These marketplaces are a disappearing phenomenon, the internet is partly responsible for this but it is also clear that gentrification has tidied away this unruly mess of paper, card and Blu-Tac

My artwork – textile facsimiles of shop window notices – can be seen at

sandie macrae -postROOM – 41 Ecclesbourne Road, N1 3AF until 17th June.