nicoles work has been seen by over one hundred and fifty million people
Nicole Leth is a professionally trained artist, writer, and human being devoted to creating spaces for people to feel seen, held, and understood.
Her work exists in the quiet corners of the world—on billboards above highways, stitched into quilts left in public parks, painted onto murals in unexpected places, showcased in joyful paintings in museums, hidden inside free flower shops, or mailed out as anonymous love letters—offering messages of hope and resilience to anyone who needs them. The majority of her public work is done under complete anonymity, allowing the message to take precedence over the artist.
Over the past decade, Nicole’s work has been experienced by over 150 million people around the world. Her original writing has appeared everywhere from billboards in Times Square to quiet roadside signs in small towns. She has flown airplane banners over major cities, displaying phrases of love and hope in the sky. She has made clothing that’s been worn by everyone from school teachers to celebrities.
Born from personal loss and an unshakable belief in the power of kindness, Nicole’s work centers on the intersection of public art, mental health, and human connection. She is a trained fashion designer with nearly a decade of experience building storefronts, designing clothing lines, and creating custom garments. Her artistic practice also includes painting and fine art, where she integrates childlike and joyful imagery as a way to create a safe and accessible space to share her writing. This approach is deeply personal—rooted in her own experience of a tumultuous childhood that stripped away her sense of childhood itself. Through her work, she reclaims that lost joy, honoring the wisdom of the inner child within herself and others, creating spaces where softness and sincerity take center stage.
In addition to her large-scale works, Nicole co-created The Affirmation Quilts Project, a collaboration with her husband, Luke Haynes. Together, they anonymously install handmade quilts featuring compassionate messages in public spaces across the globe. Since its start in 2020, the project has sparked a global movement—with people around the world creating their own affirmation quilts and placing them in their communities as acts of love.
She also runs a free postcard project, which she began in 2019, sending handwritten pieces of her writing—focused on compassion, connection, and quiet observations of the human experience—to people around the world. To date, she has mailed over 150,000 anonymous love letters to recipients on every continent except Antarctica. This intimate form of connection echoes the heart of her practice: art as a personal, unexpected act of care.
Whether through installations, fashion, fine art, or public interventions, Nicole’s projects have reached millions, reminding people that joy and healing can exist in even the most unexpected places. Her fine art paintings—playful, emotionally honest, and rich with nostalgia—have been exhibited in spaces such as the Asheville Art Museum and continue to find homes in private and public collections.
Nicole has been recognized internationally for her contributions to public art and community engagement. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, The LA Times, NPR, The Today Show, Yahoo!, Nylon, and more. In 2020, she received the Lifetime Achievement OBIE Award for her global public art project. She has partnered with institutions such as Kansas City Public Schools, The City of Buena Vista, Arkansas, The City of Palm Springs, The City of Miami, and The City of Los Angeles to bring her message-driven work into the lives of everyday people.
She has dedicated her life to making art that prioritizes connection and impact, believing that true recognition comes from the ways her work resonates with others and creates meaningful change.
At its core, Nicole’s work is a conversation—a gentle reaching-out that says: You are here, and that matters. It is a testament to the idea that art, when created with care, can be a vessel for healing, a bridge between strangers, and a quiet act of revolution.
