DayFour issue 9 Modern Love
Published 2011
To most of us, love is a fundamental emotional need. We want to love and be loved. Love is the universal subject of musicians and artists, and the stock-in-trade of gossip columns.
In Western society, the importance of love, and indeed the definition of love, has changed throughout history. Once upon a time homosexuality was prosecuted, and now we celebrate gay weddings. Once upon a time, love meant a private relationship between a man and a woman, leading to a life-long marriage, children, and the founding of a family. Now, marriage is optional, divorce is normal, and privacy is almost impossible. We look for love on Internet dating sites, and hook up with strangers. At the same time, in the modern world different ideas of love are leading to increasing cultural conflict. Loving who you want, or expressing your love, can incur violence and punishment.
Modern love applies to more than our intimate relationships. Once upon a time, the idea of loving your job would have been unimaginable, and not loving your country would be a treasonable offence. Now we love our football team, or The X-Factor, or Justin Bieber, and express that love in ways our parents never imagined.
For this issue, DayFour contributors considered what, who and how we love. While many of the subjects are timeless – the family, falling in love – the way we approach those subjects – defining family, finding a mate – are pure 21st-century.
Contributors
© All photography and text in Dayfour is copyright the contributors. All rights reserved
The Touch
What is it about our hands that tell us so much about ourselves and, the work that we do?
Have a look at your own hands – what story do they tell?
What is it that connects the eye to hand to heart?
'Our sense of touch', said Barbara Hepworth, 'is a fundamental sensibility ... giving us the ability to feel weight and form and assess its significance'.
The touch of a hand is what gives us the capacity to communicate as unique individuals – with all our faults and blips … we are not machine made.
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Irene, The Foundry Manager
As manager of the Royal College of Art’s foundry for many years, Irene is acutely aware of the different attitudes of students passing through the school. ‘There is a tendency just to want to copy objects today,’ she told me. ‘Many students don’t take time to really understand materials and processes. The ones that do produce more interesting work.’
As manager of the Royal College of Art’s foundry for many years, Irene is acutely aware of the different attitudes of students passing through the school. ‘There is a tendency just to want to copy objects today,’ she told me. ‘Many students don’t take time to really understand materials and processes. The ones that do produce more interesting work.’
Alessia, the bee keeper
Born in a small rural Italian village, Alessia loves living in London. She is passionate about bees and works seven days a week on rooftops, in allotments, and city farms tending hives and teaching others about beekeeping. Alessia brings to her life in London a desire to support and sustain these often overlooked city dwellers.
Born in a small rural Italian village, Alessia loves living in London. She is passionate about bees and works seven days a week on rooftops, in allotments, and city farms tending hives and teaching others about beekeeping. Alessia brings to her life in London a desire to support and sustain these often overlooked city dwellers.
