Cuarator: Diana B. Wechsler

More than ever before, the pandemic crisis has brought to the fore the interdependence between human societies and the environment. Several voices reflected on this unexpected and unprecedented experience for humankind, giving rise to different actions. Among them is The Crown Letter, a work in progress presented as a collective diary of the diverse experiences in the life of the artists that make up this project, whose strong gender imprint has become one of its identity marks. The Crown Letter began in April 2020, at the onset of the Covid crisis, a time of widespread astonishment and despondency. French artist Natacha was convinced that there was an urgent need to come up with a global, collective response. Art could not be absent in the face of a catastrophe; it had to breathe and spread its oxygen in times of asphyxia. With neither resources nor institutional support, Natacha Nisic envisaged a website and immediately contacted artist friends from different countries and generations. A collective was soon organized with no leader or editorial line, driven by a common need that barely needs to be explained. While confinement affected everyone, it was clear to us all that it had a heavier impact on women, including artists. More than ever, they wanted to work and expose themselves in every sense to scrutiny and criticism. Through The Crown Letter they created a space to express and share what each of them and all of us were going through. They invented an “us” with open borders. Collectively, individualities were not blurred, but rather supported each other. As months went by, the dialogue became deeper and collective works were produced. The Crown Letter is presented as an online exhibition whose works, videos, photos, sculptures, poetry and prose are launched every week. It is a polyphonic manifesto with a tuning fork of the tempest, which over the weeks has become the intimate and collective diary of the pandemic from Mumbaï to Buenos Aires, Glasgow, London, Bucharest, Moscow, Paris… The Crown Letter is a modest yet tenacious undertaking. It has made it past its first birthday and still continues. It will undoubtedly live on beyond the circumstances that brought it into existence.