Coco Capitán wants to connect

Coco Capitán has always liked jewellery, though she is prone to losing it. “I’m particularly bad with rings, as I always take them off when I wash my hands and leave them on the sink,” she confesses. Still, the Spanish-born, London-based artist can admire the symbolism of Cartier’s three-band Trinity ring, which has become a universal token of love, friendship and commitment. “A ring is something very material, but it can also stand for things that are not so material,” she says. 

A self-described “nostalgic artist” whose practice spans mediums from photography to painting, Capitán is perhaps best known for her handwritten aphorisms, which are themselves gestures of hope and love, rendered in upper case in a distinctive, almost childlike scrawl. “I have really bad handwriting, and the sole reason I started to write in capital letters is because I thought that would make it easier for people to understand,” she says.

Inspired by Beat-generation authors such as Allen Ginsberg and overheard snippets of conversations (often while “on the Underground”), her reflections range from “common sense is not that common” to “if you’ve seen it all, close your eyes”. “My writing work grew out of a need to express certain things that I couldn’t express as clearly with my photography or painting, but then through doing it, I realised that I can really connect with other people,” she says. “Most things I think about are quite quotidian, so I guess one of my goals is to show how we are more similar to each other than we dare to believe.”

As a child in Seville, Capitán would obsessively scribble down her thoughts in diaries and notebooks. “I’ve been writing in that style pretty much since I learned how to write,” she says. Aside from her work, she still likes to share handwritten notes and letters with her partner and loved ones. “When I want to send something that really comes from my heart, I send a letter. And it just makes me so happy when my girlfriend comes to a date with a letter or when I get a postcard from a friend who’s travelling. I guess it feels more personal,” she says. “I just find it a beautiful gesture.”