Love Letters
2022, installation, vellum, eaglecell board, gaffer tape, circle masking tape
photo/ Amanda Vilegas
“Love Letters” (2022) is an installation work that takes on a personal approach on how Wu builds up her personality through the words of others.
It is a curtain structure in the shape of a cylinder with a LED light shining from the bottom casting shadow on the ceiling. The curtains were made out of laser cut vellum papers.
There are letters written in both Chinese and English on several of them. There was an opening of the structure on the back side of the installation, where the viewers were welcomed to enter the cylinder. Letters for the artist were a different way of expression in contrast to talking face to face or typing text messages. They are physical words that tell her how people around her think of her. When writing we seem to sit with the sentence longer and more vulnerable to show our feelings for the one we are writing to. It was more considerate and more labor required as they appeared showing sincerity toward one another. Wu considers this piece as a body of her guard, as each letter is a component that builds her confidence in how she identifies herself and learning who she is through the eyes of her loved ones.
However, the curtain was not solid but with holes and translucence for that sense of mental safety was never a solid idea that rooted in her mind. The structure appears to be delicate reflecting how fragile one’s feeling of security can be, and its relationship with insecurity is not “either, or'' but they coexisted. This piece shows Wu’s vulnerability and it has the viewer to be aware of their own existence. As they walk by the piece, they can cause the movements to the curtains and have to be mindful of their physical self when trying to enter the work through a relatively small gap. Each movement makes an influence, viewers are asked to be gentle and mindful about their steps as if to tenderly and considerately caring with another’s insecurity.
