Write To Me (English)

Vanessa Dion Fletcher, 2023, mixed media installation

Installation Images

• A long white case with writing materials displayed on top. The case is separated into two sections, the one on our right is under a glass case and the one on our left can be interacted with. On both sides are cards with bright graphics, pencils, envelopes, and a stamp with a campfire that matches one of the cards. In the case on our right three different cards are displayed with their envelopes. In front of them are packages of stamps with Buffy St Marie and other Indigenous heroes. Moving to the right in the front of the case are pencils with the phrase, “Write To Me” written on them. Behind the pencils is an eraser, pencil sharpener, stamp and, patterned tape with the text, “Land Back.”
• Three cards with graphic drawings on them. The first one on the left is all white and has a drawing of an envelope with large white letters tumbling out of the opening. The card in the middle is pinky purple with small lavender abstract shapes scattered about, some of which resemble three toed duck feet. The third card on our right is a blocky abstract campfire with bright red flames at the bottom, orange flames in the middle and sparks of deep purple flying into the air.

Invitation Letter

January 30th, 2023

Dear___________, 

My name is Vanessa Dion Fletcher! I am inviting you to participate in Write to Me, an Indigenous Pen Pal Project. Please feel to extend this invitation to anyone you would like to join us.

Who’s invited: Indigenous people of all ages living in Canada. 

What’s Involved: Register using the google form. You will be paired with a pen pal. You will receive a letter with the name of your pal along with custom stationery and stamps. You will be given enough supplies for five letters. Once you’ve received your writing kit, get started by sending a letter to your pal - tell about yourself and invite your pen pal to do the same! As the project progresses, I’ll check in by email and letter mail to see how it's going. 

How this project got started: I was invited to initiate a community art project by the Toronto History Museum for their exhibition, “Transforming, Grief: Loss and Togetherness in COVID-19.” As a facilitator and participant in other pen pal projects, I was eager to start this one as well.

Why I Love Letters:  

During the pandemic, writing and sending mail became an even more essential way of communicating, comforting and grieving. In the Winter of 2018, Vanessa Dion Fletcher, living in Toronto, participated in “The Native Pen Pal Project.” She was paired with a Pueblo woman living in New York City - Colette. 

As the two began corresponding via letters, receiving a letter brought them small moments of joy. Having a pen pal in NYC was a small but meaningful way for Dion Fletcher to connect to Lenapeawking as  Dion Fletcher’s family, part of the Lenape People, was displaced from their traditional territory (NYC and beyond) as of the 1700s.

Due to pandemic, the pen pal letters slowed when Colette was suffering from COVID-19. At this time, Vanessa reached out to the Native Pen Pal Project to ask if she could help facilitate. She wanted to help make connections and an avenue of expression for Indigenous people. 

Whether by choice or force, to gain access to clean water, employment, or physical or emotional safety, many Indigenous people are displaced from their homes and lands. Writing letters can be a political act. In spite of that, Indigenous people will always be able to express themselves and rejoice in their existence. If nothing else, Write To Me is an opportunity to make friends by sending and receiving letters. 

Interested in making connections by exchanging letters? Join Write To Me https://forms.gle/DVrx9RoJ2MncEhbN9 

-Vanessa Dion Fletcher

Installation Details

Write To Me is a pen pal project for Indigenous people to express themselves through letter mail. For the artist, community is integral to reconstructing and maintaining oneself while grieving. Visitors, you are invited to write your letter as an email or use the stationery and postage provided to write your own letter. About 120 participants across Toronto and beyond will write to one another until the 2023 Summer Solstice.

Vanessa Dion Fletcher is a Lenape and Potawatami neurodiverse artist. She creates with porcupine quills, Wampum belts, and menstrual blood in textile, video, and performance art to reveal the complexities of what defines a body physically and culturally.

Visitors, you are invited to write your own letter. It could be addressed to a loved one, a friend, a politician, or even yourself. You can write your letter as an email or use the stationery and postage provided.

The closest post office is 761 King Street West, Toronto, ON M5V 1N4.

Or you may hand deliver it.

About the Artist

Vanessa Dion Fletcher stands in a white hallway smiling at us, photographed from the thigh up. She has short black hair that swoops across her forehead, light skin tone, and red glasses that frame her brown eyes. She wears a textured and sparkly black jacket with shiny copper colored pants.