Puentes de Papel (Paper Bridges) is a collaborative art project connecting Latin American women living in Bristol, UK, and Leipzig, Germany, through letters, imagination and artistic exchange.
The project began with a simple question: Can we create a portrait of someone we have never met through their words?
Participants from Bristol and Leipzig were paired and exchanged handwritten letters, sharing memories, identity, migration experiences, cultural roots, dreams and everyday moments. Without meeting in person or connecting through social media, the letters became a space for intimacy, curiosity and connection.
Inspired by these exchanges, each participant created an A3 artistic portrait — an identikit of her letter partner. Painting, drawing, embroidery, textiles, collage and mixed media were all welcomed. An eye image provided a starting point, while imagination became the main tool for interpreting another person’s story.
The project explores identity, migration, belonging and connection, asking how much we can discover about another person through their words — and how those words can be transformed into an image.
A collaboration across borders
Puentes de Papel was developed through a partnership between Latinas in Bristol CIC, a grassroots organisation supporting Latin American women in Bristol, and Tardes de Parche, a Latin American community and cultural group based in Leipzig, Germany.
Both organisations bring together Latin American women and migrant communities through culture, creativity, community activities and spaces for connection. Although separated by borders, the two groups share a common commitment to creating spaces where migrant women can express their identities, celebrate their cultures and build new connections.
Throughout the project, participants in Bristol and Leipzig exchanged letters, creative ideas and experiences. The collaboration also included an international exchange, with participants travelling between the two cities to meet, share their work and strengthen the relationships created through the project.
Building bridges through art
Puentes de Papel builds those connections—between Bristol and Leipzig, between past and present, between memory and imagination, and between people who share the experience of creating a home far from where they were born.
The artworks in this exhibition are the result of those encounters: portraits created not from photographs, but from words, memories and imagination.
