During the second wave of the feminist movement, in the 1970s and 1980s, feminists in the United States and the United Kingdom challenged and redefined the notion of ‘woman’ as a singular identity. They articulated their demands through the writing and exchange of letters. They wrote passionate letters to each other—love letters—with the main purpose of strengthening their relationships and exchanging views on the reconstruction of contemporary women’s identity. Through their correspondence, they examined questions of sexuality, differentiation, and strategy, proposing personal relationships as an ideal of the feminist movement —a form of political action in itself. In Greece, we find letter writing and publishing in the majority of women’s publications within the autonomous feminist space, which began to be published immediately after the Metapolitefsi. In their final pages, letters are published from readers who typically recount their personal experiences, express how much the magazine has empowered them to deal with their daily problems, convey the feeling that they are not alone after all, and express their participation in a collective struggle to manage and eventually subvert these issues. With this practice as a point of reference, we invite artists, writers, and theorists to write letters addressed to those they have loved or still love. We write these letters not only for you to read, but for others to remember their own stories through ours.We want to set a precedent so that those who have acted similarly know they will, sooner or later, receive one in their email. We suggest letter writing as a means of building personal relationships, practicing spontaneity, and declaring a collective presence.
Open Love Letters is a public confession to vent, to reveal, to confess, to atone, to meet others, and to understand our differences and come together. From 2019 to 2023 we received Love Letters from Danai Anagnostou, Margarita Bofiliou, Aggeliki Bozou, Camilla Rocha Campos, Katerina Christidi, Alexandre Collet, Norah Dineen, Dora Economou, Alkisti Efthymiou, Eva Giannakopoulou, Selma Köran, Maria Loizidou, Helen de Main, Galini Notti, Nina Papaconstantinou, Rena Papaspyrou, Elpida Rikou, Nana Sachini, Georgia Sagri, Vasiliki Sifostratoudaki & Liz Allan, Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou, Eleni Tzirtzilaki, Myrto Xanthopoulou, Pegy Zali.
With Love,
Xenia Kalpaktsoglou & Pegy Zali
