Oceans and oceans of love

They were written by the same man, Morton, to his wife Nancye in 1930 and 1931. Morton wrote the letters a year apart while travelling for work on the Midnight Special the overnight train between St. Louis and Chicago. He wrote the letters on the train's headed paper when such a thing existed. Reading the letters reveals an affectionate relationship between husband and wife expressed through deeply romantic language. In both letters Morton writes about seeing the movie, The Love Parade made in 1929 in the Missouri theatre in St. Louis. He imagines his wife Nancye as the movies star, the queen, played by Jeanette McDonald while he casts himself as the impetuous Count determined to win her heart. These letters became the foundation for imagined visual biographies that combine historical research with storytelling.

I did a lot of research prior to starting this project and during this time I became interested in integrating the idea of cigarette cards into my artworks. Cigarette cards were small, mass-produced cards placed inside cigarette packets. One side featured illustrations such as cars, animals, baseball players, trains, or Hollywood movie stars or a scene from a movie, with information on the back. They were highly collectable and they transformed Hollywood actors into treasured keepsakes, bringing glamorous, cinematic fantasies into everyday homes. These artwork draws on the composition, colour palettes and stylised portraiture of these vintage cigarette cards. Their graphic quality and cultural significance visually influence this body of work. I used phrases from Morton's letters, such as "I've been dreaming of you," a declaration of love that recalls classic Hollywood romance. Like the cards then capture a moment, a scene from Morton and Nancy’s story.

These artwork draws on the composition, colour palettes and stylised portraiture of these vintage cigarette cards. Their graphic quality and cultural significance visually influence this body of work. I used phrases from Morton's letters, such as "I've been dreaming of you," a declaration of love that recalls classic Hollywood romance. Like the cards then capture a moment, a scene from Morton and Nancy’s story.

This body of work sits between fact and fiction, preserving forgotten lives through imagined stories.