This piece was created as part of a small series of three paintings, titled “Bittersweet Memories”, a collection exploring the tender ache of remembering. The series was created to explore how grief, love and nostalgia intertwine in so many moments that shape us and can hold both the beauty and pain of our memories.

Letters I Never Sent was directly inspired by an old box of letters I had tucked away, each unsent and filled with raw memories of lost love, of past friendships, and glimpses into past versions of myself.

I wanted to create a piece that bottled up these conflicting emotions: the joy of a life lived, and the pain of the things and people we’ve lost along the way.

The idea that two things can be true at once, there can be beauty and there can be pain, is reflected in this piece, and serves as a visual reminder of the quiet rituals we engage in when we are lost in memory and remembrance.

xx- Marine Aimée