To you, wherever you are, Cards and Envelopes, 2023, Photo: Carey Shaw

This piece went through a trial test in Winter 2023. Later on, for the span of my MFA show, I did another variation of the project. The core idea was simple, I had been leaving letters inside envelopes early in the morning on different floors of the Murray Library. I 62 had to be there at 8 am in the morning, sneaking to the south and north wing, making sure no one was around to see me. I’d leave the letter, take some pictures for the purpose of documentation, and finally record a video of myself whispering time, date, and location.

I never stayed there, not even to view from a distance, that would have implied an interference with the experience that I wasn’t intending. Instead, sometimes later in the day I would go and check on them. By the time I checked on them, almost every letter had been touched, moved, or entirely removed. I left 20 letters, and never waited to collect them back. I would like to imagine that they had options for continuing to live. They could have ended up in the trash, someone could have used them to make study notes, if I was lucky someone could have written back and replied, or they may have looked around to see if someone has lost this letter, since it was addressed to them: To you, wherever you are.

I like to think that some people took the letter with themselves, some posted it on their social media saying that someone insane left these in the library and arguing with my thoughts, someone agreeing with me and cherishing the thoughts, someone showing it to a friend and talking about it with them, and/or someone giving it to the front desk with the hope that it will get back to me. The participation of the audience and the possible fate of the letters were not up to me. I had intervened within their daily lives and provided them with a chance to get more, it was up to them to welcome it. For the final show I have brought in another iteration of these letters, the notes are different, but the format stays the same. I decided to hand-write for the intimacy and care that I am putting in the work. For the span of the exhibition, each morning I will go and put a letter in different locations and floors of Murray library. My decision for not following up with their whereabouts and awaiting a participant stays the same. All the letters are scanned and archived for the documentation purposes.

To you, wherever you are, Cards and Envelopes, 2023, Courtesy of the artist