Monique Martin is a prolific and dedicated artist; her process is informed by her interests, which are researched to every detail and explored through different media. Martin’s practice is about getting to the core of human connection and relationships. Though the processes differ throughout her artistic career, Martin continues to try to connect to people through her art and build relationships. In this exhibition, Martin is using hand-writing and the mailed letter as metaphor for miscommunication and lost connections. Through the physical mailed letter, a method we are slowly losing to digital media and instant messaging, Martin is hoping to spark communication and understanding.
There are a variety of strategies employed in the installation of this exhibition; there is both a heavy layering of work and repetition, a nod to printmaking practices, but there are also quiet spaces for contemplation. We hope gallery visitors feel comfortable using the writing desk to connect with someone they know. Any written letters can be stamped at the desk and placed in the post-box near the front window of the gallery.
Stephanie Canning & Maia Stark, Curators
Trust and integrity, the entire thing depends on silence. Human emotions encapsulated in coloured envelopes, surrounding the thoughts on paper. So many people play a part. The rainbow of colour is the perfect vessel for all the things that humans feel.
Paper is organic, covered in swirls and loops of the sender touched by the receiver. The touching through handwriting, pen and paper across a distance, the effort to write, enclose a letter and mail it makes it a cherished object, a special gift, to be held with a type of reverence.
The paraph, the flourish at the end of a signature, marks each individual as unique. Each flourish developed by the mark making. The signature, a security device, to keep things secure, to validity of documents when written.
Writing a letter is an investment in the person you are sending it to and in the system that delivers the mail. The physical evidence of the letter can remain on this planet for years to come. The receiver gets it free of charge, no cost to come to your door, no commitment to opening it.
Monique Martin, Artist
