2026
Artist's correspondence, thread, cyanotype
48 x 24 inches
I saved a notebook that I shared with one of my best friends in high school. We were both new kids to the school, not knowing anyone else, and found each other. We passed a notebook back and forth every day or every other day and wrote notes to each other. For each other’s eyes only. The notebook became a private space where our friendship took shape through handwriting, confessions, jokes, and promises.
After only a few months, she moved away, leaving the notebook with me. Now, years later, I returned to those pages. Individual messages from the notebook are folded and stitched together, creating layered forms where the messages are mostly closed off from view. The stitching holds the letters shut, preserving the privacy of what we shared. Only fragments of the writing remain visible, glimpses of a conversation that was always meant only for us.
Some of the pages are printed with cyanotype made from negatives of the yearbook photo spread that includes our school photo portraits. Across the letters, fragments of familiar teenage signatures emerge: “Friends 4 Ever,” “KIT,” “Keep in touch.” These phrases capture the earnest optimism of youth of promises written both quickly and with deep sincerity.
