Love, Archived: Artist Kieran Trainer makes love letters a tangible ode to intangible affection

We all have a box shoved far under our bed, hidden from our parents, partners, and sometimes even ourselves. 

Whether they’re labelled ‘memories’ or ‘ex box’, these love archives are stuffed with souvenirs. Crumpled Post-it notes, expired film, unsent letters, concert tickets, birthday cards, high school ball photos and an ex’s swim-team hoodie (maybe a bit specific).  

Whether your box is full of melancholy or regret, it acts as a physical reminder, in a digital age, of love lost and gained.  

Rather than leaving these relics to collect dust, fourth-year fine arts student Kieran Trainor pins their love on a wall. Their 2023 art exhibition, Love Letters, explores how tangible objects preserve the memory of love for them, and others. 

Displayed on a blank wall are 16 envelopes, each uniquely adorned with kisses, dirt, dill seeds, a necklace, hair and other symbolic remnants about love. This evocative installation invites the viewers to reflect on their own fragments of love and connection. 

Kieran was drawn to love’s connection in specific objects. 

“I was thinking about, ‘how is love archived?’ And love letters were the first thing that came up.” 

Some envelopes hold objects tied to platonic, family and self-love: A rock from Ohiro Bay gifted from their friend, old buttons, their grandmother’s necklace, and a lock of their own hair.  

“The project opened up when I considered the power of platonic love and family love, and even thinking about self-love too,” Kieran says. 

 “Love is like fuel to reach different capacities.” 

Representations of Kieran’s self-love are found in envelopes filled with laundry powder, a lock of their own hair, and diffuser oils from their room. 

On the other hand, romantic love is explored through physical mementos of Kieran’s past relationships. One envelope carries dirt from the location of their first kiss in Wellington, another contains dill which their ex used to cook with, while one encloses tear-stained tissues. 

“The tissues have my tears on them from a breakup,” Kieran explains, “I liked that it was an object from that time.” 

“That felt kind of raw and interesting to me.” 

A central envelope remains empty, a representation of love lost. 

A unique aspect of Love Letters is how it engages the sense of the viewers – specifically smell. One envelope is filled with paprika, a spice Kieran’s mother uses. Another is sprayed with cologne.  

“I had to go into the studio most days and spray my cologne on the envelope.”  

Displayed in Massey’s fine arts exhibition space, Love Letters encouraged others to engage with Kieran’s work.  

“It was interesting to have a kōrero about an art piece that looks visually simple. You know, they’re just envelopes, very familiar objects. But then talking about the significance of the things, people bring up their own anecdotal experiences.” 

Kieran’s art also explores the expression of queer love, reminiscent of the historic physicality of queer art.  

“It's so important as a queer person to breathe into an archive.”  

Archives serve as tools for remembrance, using history as a foundation to move forward. Through a queer lens, art becomes a medium for documenting the nuanced and beautiful nature of queer identity.  

Artists like Felix Gonzalez-Torres explored queer love through physical forms. Pieces like Perfect Lovers, a pair of clocks set to different times, and (Untitled) Portrait of Ross, featuring a slowly dwindling pile of candy. These works reflect the Gonzalez-Torres' grief over his partner’s HIV-related decline. 

Similarly, the New Zealand AIDS Memorial Quilts, housed in Te Papa Archives, were created from 1988 onward as textile tributes to loved ones lost to HIV. These panels transformed loss into collective remembrance.  

Kieran sees their use of physical materials as a representation of queer love.  

“A lot of my work is about queerness, which I believe is a love-based framework.” 

Ultimately, Love Letters is an ode to the comfort, loss, discovery and development of love. Even though the items are uniquely Kieran’s, we all have our own envelopes to fill.  

Perhaps there is a ribbon in a drawer, the scent of a certain tea, a tattered stuffed animal, or the lingering trace of cigarette ash that takes us all back to a time of love lost and gained.