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Child + Line by Sasha Kahn's avatar

Beautifully said Sarah. I have too been moved to tears by her work

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Anaria Sharpe's avatar

Loved reading about Abramoviç

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Anaria Sharpe's avatar

That should be Abramović

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Sarah Fay's avatar

I’m so glad! I worried performance artist wouldn’t get much much of a draw.

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Dana Leigh Lyons's avatar

I love this so much, Sarah. Thank you for writing it.

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Sarah Fay's avatar

Thank you! I’ve been thinking about you and your big move!

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Debbie Weil's avatar

Sarah, this is FASCINATING! How the performance artist Marina Abramović inspired your adopting the phrase “more and more of less and less.” I love those words. Although I confess that each time I say them I must untangle exactly what you mean. That’s part of the point, isn’t it?!

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Sarah Fay's avatar

That is the point. And I do the same.

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David Roberts's avatar

Loved reading about Marina's life and her various performances.

Of course I relate what you wrote to myself. Connection, narcissism, likely both. I

have many trappings that I would not give up, either because I don't want to or because doing so would go against my code of behavior. So I wonder at what point that becomses incongruous with an artist's life.

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Sarah Fay's avatar

What I love about her is that we all get to choose. She doesn’t live like a monk. Not at all. Her houses are spectacular.

It’s more about choosing what we’re gonna have more of and what we’re gonna have less of. That’s my attitude. She’s so extreme in so many ways.

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Sarah Fay's avatar

That’s also why I like the distinction between less and fewer. Less is abstract. Fewer is all the things that we can count materially.

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Kate Harvey's avatar

What an amazing person! Thanks for sharing her story 💛

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May 18, 2024
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Sarah Fay's avatar

It does? I must’ve uploaded the wrong one.

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Kate Harvey's avatar

I’ve been there!

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Jeannie Ewing's avatar

Thank you, Sarah. I agree about the difference between less and fewer. I think about that from time to time. Also, I am not on social media anymore, either, and it has given me the freedom to discover what being an artist looks like for me instead of following the cultural expectations and ideal. Very liberating. I will be reading this memoir!

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Sarah Fay's avatar

The memoir is so good. I kept wondering why I was so entranced by it. I did skip through some of the early childhood chapters. It’s not that she was so horribly abused. Maybe I just couldn’t read about it. She was abused.

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Jeannie Ewing's avatar

Sarah, I get that. It's hard to read about someone else's pain. I found Augusten Burroughs 's memoir disturbing, albeit entertaining in a certain morose way. I'm of the opinion that we can give ourselves space and permission to read or receive what we're able to. Sometimes it's about self-preservation, sometimes we just can't carry more than what we already have. Both are okay.

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Dee Rambeau's avatar

Powerful. I did not know of her—but certainly believe in the concept. I love that you described both the laughter and the seriousness. 🙏

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Sarah Fay's avatar

Yes, you'd expect her to be pretentious as hell and she's the opposite.

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Kaspa Thompson (they/them)'s avatar

Thanks Sarah, I really enjoyed reading this piece. I've known about and appreciated Abramovic for a long time, while only knowing a little about her and love the way you appreciate her here.

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Sarah Fay's avatar

It’s so amazing. And there’s so much I left out.

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Anastasia Tsoukala's avatar

Refreshing! Thank you!

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Agustin Tascon's avatar

“If less is more, just think of how much more more will be” - Dr Frasier Crane 😅

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Kimberly Warner's avatar

There is so much to love in this essay. I relate deeply to it all. 💕

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Sarah Fay's avatar

That means so much coming from you.

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Kimberly Warner's avatar

... even that part about choosing to not have children. Thank you for helping my sometimes indecipherable interior feel heard and seen!

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Jodi Rose Crump's avatar

What a fantastic newsletter. I have come away breathless. Thank you for feeding my soul today.

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Sarah Fay's avatar

Thank you! You just fed my soul in return!

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Ermira Pirdeni's avatar

The more you have, the more they become invisible to us, only more information is always better than less.

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ColorSpotter's avatar

This was so good to read, thank you Sarah! I also enjoyed the overview of Abramovic’s work. Over the decades I started appreciating her work more and more… I remember that in the early 90s I just couldn’t relate to it and thought it pretentious. But I was very young and the world (my world) was a different place. The Balkan Baroque is such a powerful work and, as someone who went through that very war, I very much respect her for it.

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Sarah Fay's avatar

You went through that. I can't imagine.

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Beth Lapides's avatar

I played her in the recreation of her MoMA piece on Sex and The City. It was profound to sit on the quietness and look people ( one of them being Barishnokov!) hello ! - in the eyes. The pic caught my eye. And yes to less. I like to say less is always being revealed.

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Sarah Fay's avatar

Oh, my goodness! I'm floored. Awestruck.

And yes, less is always being revealed.

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