Texts about Lee Mingwei’s projects

The Letter Writing Project

“When my maternal grandmother passed away, I still had many things to say to her but it was too late. For the next year and a half I wrote many letters to her, as if she were still alive, in order to share my thoughts and feelings.” Lee Mingwei

In The Letter Writing Project, you are invited to sit, stand, or kneel and take a quiet moment for yourself. On the table, you will find paper and pens. You may write a letter you have carried in your heart but never took the time to articulate. Perhaps you want to address the letter to an absent loved one, someone to whom you wish to express unspoken gratitude, forgiveness, an apology, or simply words left unsaid. After writing the letter, the decision about what happens next is yours—if you seal and address the envelope, the museum will send the letter on its journey. If you choose to leave your letter in one of the wall slots, unsealed, it might be found and read by other visitors. If the envelope is sealed but not addressed, the artist will take care of the letter.

The Mending Project

“Unlike a tailor, who will try to hide the fact that the fabric was once damaged, this mending is done with the idea of celebrating the repair, as if to say, something good was done here, a gift was given, this fabric is even better than before.” /Lee Mingwei

The garments we wear often carry meaning to us, and when worn frequently, they might become tattered. When someone sits at the table, you as a visitor may offer an article of clothing that you have brought or that you are wearing. The Mending Project constitutes an act of sharing between the mender and a visitor. When one of the two chairs is available, we invite you to sit down. Opposite you, a mender sits at the ready. Here, the act of mending takes on emotional value that is marked by the use of thread that is not the color of the fabric. The embellishment on the clothing is the mender’s gift to you.

Fabric of Memory

“A childhood photograph … was the point of inspiration for Fabric of Memory. The photo was taken on my very first day to kinder-garten, and the idea of being away from my parents made me  very unhappy. I finally agreed to go to school after Mom told me to think of the jacket I was wearing as her embracing throughout the day.” /Lee Mingwei

Here in Malmö, Fabric of Memory started with an open-call and dialogues where people were asked to share a textile item that someone had made for them that they cherish and have held on to. It was the beginning of dialogues both many and long, with people in Skåne as well as throughout Sweden. Some of these are presented on the platform. In each box, the treasured garments and items are intertwined with personal stories of how they came to be, revealing the intimate relationship between the object’s maker and its receiver. Welcome to enter the platform, you will find the stories on the inside of each lid. Please request assistance if you wish help to access the boxes.