Call for love letters, vol. 2

It’s been three years since I launched the original call for handwritten love letters. I can’t believe how much those letters have influenced my work and my own understanding of what it’s really like to fall in love, break, and heal. Whenever I got a new letter in the mail, I would read and re-read the words over and over. I’d hold it and carry it with me for weeks. I felt like I was carrying around a million dollars when really, it was worth much more. The letters were priceless and irreplaceable.

I’ve spent the last three years using the love letters in my paintings– burying them, preserving them, and trying my best to honor the narratives within them. So many of the paintings that hold those stories have found loving homes. Some of which made their way back to the writers. I love that back-and-forth, the whole performance of it. What a gift– to be given a love letter and then be able to give it back to the owner in an entirely new form, holding new meaning.

In the original open call, I specified that I wanted handwritten love letters. At that time, I thought there was real magic specifically in the handwritten word, like it could mark a time and place so definitively, just by the way the paper had aged and the ink had faded. I still think there’s magic in getting thoughts and feelings out in physical space, however, through the past few years, I’ve accepted and embraced ways we connect online (through datings apps, text messages, emails, and more).

I gradually started capturing the digital interactions I experienced in my own pursuit of love and connection. Of course, they made their way into the paintings. I printed them on paper and used them as collage material. I printed them on fabric, sewed them together, and stretched them on bars like canvas. They became just as valid and important as the handwritten letters. Often, screenshots were all I had from relationships that were short-lived, yet held so much weight.

So here I am again, three years later, inviting you to send me your digital “love letters”. Again, I’d like to hear your story in an attempt to better understand the ways we fall in love, break, and heal. I find so many ways to capture memories and emotions to tell my own story. This time, I'm hoping to do the same by hearing yours

Instructions:

Send me a screenshot (of anything) from a time when you felt a spark, love, heartbreak, or any other kind of romantic connection online.

This could be a poem sent via text from your husband, a breakup text from your girlfriend, a compliment in an email from your secret lover, a direct message on a dating app from your crush, a digital drawing sent on iMessage, or a list of emojis you sent to your ex on Facebook. Go back in your archives and find AIM chats and Myspace messages. Most importantly, send whatever you feel comfortable with and leave out your name if you want to remain anonymous.