LOVE LETTERS IN LIGHT
Love Letters in Light is a public poetry project produced in May of 2021 by artist and curator Leila Hamidi in partnership with LA County Library and WE RISE, an annual event of the LA County Department of Mental Health that uses the power of creative expression to strengthen our individual and collective wellbeing. During Mental Health Awareness month in May, scrolling LED signs were installed on the exterior of ten Library buildings throughout the County. The content for the signs, short messages of love of 15 words or less, presented in both English and Spanish, was produced by a core group of five writers (Victoria Chang, féi hernandez, Jerry Quickley, Yesika Salgado, and Imani Tolliver) and a public open call that received over 1,100 submissions.
Love Letters in Light, Documentary: Short Poems to Los Angeles on Heartbreak, Hope, and Love in the Time of COVID
This short film documents the Love Letters in Light public poetry project produced in May of 2021 in partnership with LA County Library and LA County Department of Mental Health's WE RISE initiative. An homage to Los Angeles, the project commissioned love letters of fifteen words or less from a group of five distinguished poets and a public open call. The film, which interviews the writers as well as LA County Library director Skye Patrick, Library Journal’s 2019 Librarian of the Year, is unflinchingly honest about the heartbreaks and hopes of a County that was the epicenter of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
when will i walk freely in gardens again
lay in soft grass without fear
~Imani Tolliver (Manhattan Beach Library, 5/25/21)
Photo by Elon Schoenholz Photography
*Love Letters in Light is supported by WE RISE – an initiative of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, funded by sponsorships and Prop 63. To learn more visit werise.la.
