Mahnoor Salman

“I am more letters than a body, more words than just this skin.
Handwritten letters have always been something special to me as they spill nostalgic longing, loss, and
love. As an introvert, they are one of the best ways for me to articulate my feelings. In the times of
text messages, the idea of handwritten letters have always been more intimate to me, expressing the
rarely spoken words and feelings and keeping them intact. It is an art in itself, the art of carefully putting
the words to express love, to preserve a memory, or to convey feelings which then don’t remain just
words anymore rather it becomes an embodiment of a soul.
My artistic practice is based on my personal letters, the letters as my way of letting out the piled-up
emotions inside me. I have preserved different emotions inside them, different moments that I have
experienced in my life, the special ones which I want to keep with me for a longer period so I can
always read them again after years & experience it all over again. I have painted them in ways to try
to keep the nostalgic essence alive. Old photographs and pressed roses have also been an essential
element alongside, depicting a timeline of how time is passing by but the emotions are still alive in
them.
The purpose behind it is solely to show how meaningful it is that we put parts of ourselves in those
pieces of paper, those parts which are not exposed to anyone, the secret parts, the hidden ones and
share them with others or keep them for our future selves.”