It was a different type of challenge for a visual artist like me to answer Adeline de Monseignat’s call to write a love letter to Penelope.
The occasion was an exhibition @gallery46whitechapel in London, this past February 2017.

At Penelope’s time they only had ink and paper to send messages or letters of any kind but nowadays we are not used to writing letters anymore, let alone love letters, because… Well, because, when our loved ones are away, we express our love by calling them either by means of Skype or by writing brief notes on Whatsapp or making a live video on FB and share it also with our friends.

Better, worse, I don’t think that’s the point. The thing is that life is change and I love to embrace change, because to me it brings new awareness, it stimulates us to see things from different perspectives and makes us grow.

Having said that, I really enjoyed writing a letter to Penelope, putting myself in the shoes of one of her Suitors (they were apparently 108), knowing that that letter might have been one in a lifetime chance to conquer her heart. Hope you’ll enjoy it too!

Dear Penelope,

one minute, and then another one.

Only one minute.

How long does one minute last, after another one?

It is just one minute, don’t you think?

It sees the night, that’s true,

And the light of day, true too;

It sees white trees and snow,

And some dead leaves, I know.

Yet one minute, and only one it is,

Right after another, and then one more indeed.

Please Penelope, my dear,

make it only be one minute, before I hold you near.

The Suitor