31 Comments
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vincent's avatar

as someone who never really understood why i did not feel love for my parents but i did feel love for my closest friends, this was such a good read and i’m glad I didn’t procrastinate reading this like I do with a lot of other things 😭 thank u for posting 🤍

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viv's avatar

obsessed with the way you write! such thoughtful approaches to analysing art, not just academically but personally too <3 (seeing the kiss in person was astonishing and I totally understand the urge to get a full sized poster of it)

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kora 🌊's avatar

half of these sentences made me want to cry

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Ari Sierra's avatar

literally me

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emma's avatar

this feels like a glimpse into your mind in the most striking way

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Elle's avatar

i miss reading long classics with you

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theeneighbourwoodwriter's avatar

I lovedddd your art explorations, there are so many pieces of this that I will have to come back to and journal on- you have such an engaging way of writing!

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Elle's avatar

thank you!!

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Chad Cassady's avatar

This is really gorgeous writing of some nourishing ideas, and both filled my cup and turned me on to some new art. Thanks for being yourself and putting the extra work into sharing it. Thrive on.

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Elle's avatar

thank you so much!

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Ravleen Kaur's avatar

A good read! Loved how your thoughts about love came together in the end! :)

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Victorian Hart's avatar

beautifully put together, thank you for this read! ❤️

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Christina's avatar

Beyond how beautifully this was written, I can also just tell what a wonderful friend you are. What a blessing it must be to have a friend like you, Elle!

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Elle's avatar

oh wow you are so kind thank you so much!!

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keemia's avatar

Love how you put into words the simplest and most profound truths of the human condition.

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mansha's avatar

this is such a beautiful insight into what love is!!! the use of paintings to further illustrate your points made this essay all the more poignant :,) personally love and art have always gone hand-in-hand, simply because of how art immortalises certain moments in time, or feelings the artist had while creating that particular piece (such as the kiss!!)

love is truly a feeling we can’t describe simply because it’s such a complex emotion, which is what makes loving the people in our lives all the more greater sometimes (if that makes sense).

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Joanna Milne 🏺's avatar

I’m on Cyprus this week so I’ve been thinking about the same theme. Fascinating pictures of faces covered up - thank you for sharing. I love what you’ve said about the relationship between knowing someone and loving them. I think you are most definitely onto something there.

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Madeline's avatar

This was so tender and resonant. I love how you held space for hesitation—not as weakness, but as evidence of care, depth, and the ache to do love well. Beautiful 🩷

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Kaeleen's avatar

ELLE YOU GOT ME CRYING AT MY DESK. (specifically at 'I have my mom’s eyes and my dad’s nose' because me too :') )

Also, your friend's breakup sounds eerily similar to the reason for a friend breakup I went through last year. It's rough.

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isa's avatar

this was such a lovely morning read. nothing better than art thoughts and reading about love 💗

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alina j's avatar

first substack essay i’ve read and wow am i glad i did. you write poetry into prose and mundane into magic and love into light :)

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