Envelopes, 2015—

For Jessica Anne Schwartz paying rent and taxes is an opportunity to pay thanks, gratitude and acknowledgment to the networks that sustain her life and work.

For the envelopes used to pay her taxes, Schwartz includes handwritten letters of thanks, expressing appreciation to the individuals who process her filings. On occasion, they respond with notes of gratitude in return, creating an unexpected and tender dialogue within an otherwise impersonal system. These exchanges underscore the series' central ethos: that even the most routine transactions can become meaningful acts of connection.

Envelopes reflect Schwartz’s belief in the profound significance of ordinary exchanges. The envelopes are not merely vessels for payments but intimate gestures of appreciation directed toward landlords who provide spaces of shelter and creativity, and toward the unseen individuals behind bureaucratic processes. Through this practice, she elevates the mundane into the meaningful, celebrating the privilege of being able to contribute, to inhabit space, and to participate in systems often taken for granted.