Dictionary of Modern Love Terms

Dictionary of Modern Love Terms by Sofia Guzzo is a visual exploration of the transformation of romantic relationships in the era of digital capitalism and swipe culture. The collection of objects left behind after undefined connections serves as material evidence of a new emotional culture, where intimacy loses its stability and becomes superficial and largely consumerist. Each photograph is accompanied by a term from the contemporary digital love lexicon — “ghosting,” “orbiting,” “breadcrumbing.” These terms not only describe emerging behaviors but also indicate a shift from emotional involvement to emotional distancing. The language used today to describe feelings becomes technical, which itself signals a crisis of intimacy. The photographs are intentionally blurred, evoking the fuzzy avatars typical in dating apps, while visually representing the vagueness and ephemerality of these connections and the impossibility of truly knowing one another. This aesthetic strategy underscores the disappearance of stable emotional forms that previously demanded time, effort, and mutual commitment.

The project draws on the ideas of Byung-Chul Han, particularly his concepts of the disappearance of Eros and the regime of transparency in the era of digitaL capitalism. In a world where everything is exposed to visibility and control, desire loses its depth, and intimacy dissolves into an endless exchange of images and data. The world becomes a space of self-presentation and performative closeness, where passion gives way to visual accessibility, and mystery yields to algorithmic predictability.