FILE DESIGNER PRO Nicole Leth
My Affirmation Project is Nicole Leth's way of putting love out into the world. We caught up with the incredible artist to find out more about her work, and the marriage of affirmations and quilts
What inspired you to first start the Affirmation Project?
The project officially started in 2019 and unofficially started in 2010 when I was 17 years old. I lost my father to suicide when I was 17. This came at the end of a very long battle with addiction and mental illness that had consumed much of my childhood. To survive the darkness that came afterwards, I started doing this thing where I would sit in my room for hours with a journal and write down all of the things I desperately wished somebody would say to me. These writings looked a lot like affirmations, and this writing practice started to help me heal. Then one day it dawned on me that maybe since these words and statements of compassion helped me so much, perhaps they would help other people too if I put them out in public spaces to be found. So, at 17 years old and still in high school, I went out every week and spray painted affirmations on buildings and walls in my Iowa hometown. I didn’t tell anyone what I was doing – it was just something I kept doing because it felt important and it helped me heal. I kept at it and secretly put affirmations into the world for the next decade. This is how My Affirmation Project unofficially started.
The official start of the project came in 2019 when I had an idea to do the largest instalment yet of this 'anonymous affirmation work'.
I remember having this deep desire to put more love into the world – feeling like it might matter, like it might help humans around me, like it might help me too. I rented a billboard in downtown Kansas City for a month and posted an anonymous affirmation on it that I had written and designed. I got into my car and drove by it every day and stood in front of it and cried. For the first few weeks the only person I told was my husband, Luke. As with all of my work, I did not post my name on it, there was no social media tag or website, it was just the affirmation standing alone. Eventually, I shared a photo with a friend, who shared a photo with a few more, and so on… the next morning I woke up and the project had gone viral. From there, things started happening really fast as I did international press for the project and the world watched – I had the opportunity to work with corporate sponsors and donors to
I remember having this deep desire to put more love into the world - feeling like it might mat ter, like it might help humans around me, like it might help me too
post even more billboards around the world and grow the project in different and unique ways. The project became my full-time job and remains so to this day!
In the past three years, I have anonymously posted my writings on over 600 billboards around the world as well as using airplane banners, boats, trucks, posters, postcards, yard signs, fliers, digital screens, stickers and eventually quilts. Over 60 million people have experienced these works since 2019, and I’m on track to surpass that in the coming years!
How do you come up with the words for each piece?
The writing practice is the same now as it was when I was 17.
Any time I am designing a new instalment, I sit down with my journal and I write down all of the things that I need to hear at that moment, with whatever is going on in my life. The writings are always extremely personal and human, and that is very important to me!
How did it feel, knowing so many were touched by your words?
It filled parts of my heart and healed parts of my soul. It reminded me that we are all connected, even in our pain, and that love always wins.
Tell us a little about how you and your husband Luke Haynes came upon the idea of creating your Affirmation Quilts.
The idea for the Affirmation Quilts came very organically about two years into the official life of My Affirmation Project. Luke and I have always had this amazing creative bond, and he saw every stage and every iteration of my affirmation work taking place. I was trying to think of new and creative ways to anonymously implant free affirmations into the world and he was wanting to embark on a new way to implant quilts in public settings. We both looked at each other and seemed to get the idea to collaborate on Affirmation Quilts at the same time. In the end, it was an instance of creative magic.
What made you gravitate towards quilts as a medium?
I actually am a professionally trained fibre artist and went to art school to get my BFA in textiles! I learned every technique out there, and have always had a deep respect and love for quilting. Quilting’s relation to my affirmation work ended up being the perfect symbiosis – quilts are comfort objects and affirmations are statements of comfort. The creation of a quilt is an act of love, the creation of affirmations is inherently an act of love. I love the conversation they have and how they build off of each other.
How do you choose where to leave your affirmation quilts?
If we are going on a trip we always plan on having one or two made to bring and implant into those new spaces. If we are at home, we literally get into the car and drive around and look for good spots. When finding spaces to leave them we are always looking for ones that are super public and accessible (parks, city streets instead of inside buildings, etc). Because we have to hang them with temporary tying methods, we are usually also looking for spots that have spaces where they can be tied to that are also easy for a viewer to take down if they want to keep the quilt!
You very selflessly give away each quilt to whoever finds it. Do you ever recieve any updates?
Because we don’t write any of our information on the quilts it is very uncommon that we hear of where the quilts go. There was one instance where we were hanging a quilt up in a park in San Francisco. We had just stepped back to take photos when we saw an elderly couple walk up to it and read it. Within a minute, they had cut the quilt down, gingerly folded it up, and walked away hand in hand audibly talking about how excited they were. They had no idea it was us who had hung it up. It was unreal to see that moment. I had to walk away to be alone for a minute because it meant so much to me.
What’s your favourite affirmation quilt you’ve done so far?
“You have been deserving of love every day of your life.”
What affirmation would you send to your younger self?
All the past versions of you were doing the best they could with what they knew. Be kind to yourself.