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susan sontag

there is a level of seduction that exists beyond the body. something less tangible, and perhaps more potent. anais nin understood this idea about how desire does not begin with touch but with language, perception, and the sharp electric pull of a mind that challenges and excites you. in her journals, desire is not just a physical hunger but a hunger of the intellect, an unraveling of thought before an unraveling of the body. to be drawn into someone’s mind, to feel their thoughts press against your own, can be more intoxicating than any physical closeness.

—Caitlyn Richardson, 'can intellectual intimacy replace physical desire?', in milk fed

The Logic of Shame (A Hotel Room Study)

'Bells of the Night' by Carlos Schwabe, 1891

Toshihiko Takamizawa's custom guitars

Calcagno family burial monument at Staglieno Cemetery in Genoa, Italy. A bronze masterpiece statue lying on the steps, deposing a last flower on the grave; the personification of sorrow. Work of Adolfo Apolloni in 1904.

i just want to be next to u by julia de ruvo, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 80 x 100 centimeters