Leslie Nemour

These “envelopes” thrive on the art of storytelling, which merges fictional and non-fictional worlds via the inspirational influences of Mexican novellas (soap operas), cinema, and storyboards. The combinations and connections of images and experiences in the envelope format emerged while producing a body of work exploring the phenomena of the contemporary mail order bride whose relationships with American men begin with letter writing. The universal symbolism of the envelope represents personal and public histories, a form of communication which is both subjective and objective. These visual letters, layered in content, dramatized and personalized in the translation, are in response to both external and internal issues. The themes within the paintings relate to the many associations with letter writing, suggesting hidden secrets, intimate musings, travel, romance and memories. Simulating the back of an envelope, the partitioning of the rectangle into four triangles also implies other divisions—between people, geography, and cultures.