Elise Bell
@eliseybell.bsky.social
Arts Writer and Commentator with words in Guardian, FT, Plaster Magazine, Independent and Dazed.
You can pre-order My Opinionated Guide to Erotic Art here: https://www.hoxtonminipress.com/products/an-opinionated-guide-to-erotic-art
You can pre-order My Opinionated Guide to Erotic Art here: https://www.hoxtonminipress.com/products/an-opinionated-guide-to-erotic-art
Pinned
Elise Bell
@eliseybell.bsky.social
· Nov 21
How’s this for a first post? My Opinionated Guide to Erotic Art is available to pre-order.
Erotic Art is not just a story about sex, it’s the story of how desire has shaped civilisation. I hope you have a very sexy time with it
Link in bio!
Erotic Art is not just a story about sex, it’s the story of how desire has shaped civilisation. I hope you have a very sexy time with it
Link in bio!
I love John Updike but I had to stop reading ‘Couples’ because it was so compulsively nasty that for the two weeks I was nose deep it genuinely made me a meaner, and like, Activated for a Fight. www.telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fi...
Cancel John Updike? Not so fast
The great writer has been branded a misogynist and narcissist. Yet as his letters prove, his writing remains uncannily evocative
www.telegraph.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 10:14 AM
I love John Updike but I had to stop reading ‘Couples’ because it was so compulsively nasty that for the two weeks I was nose deep it genuinely made me a meaner, and like, Activated for a Fight. www.telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fi...
Obsessed with ‘The Office Party’ episode of Man Alive on iPlayer - a 1969 documentary about an office Christmas party at a London based advertising agency that has it all: marital affairs, eyeliner, drunk directors, a man singing opera in Welsh. Long live the archive!
November 4, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Obsessed with ‘The Office Party’ episode of Man Alive on iPlayer - a 1969 documentary about an office Christmas party at a London based advertising agency that has it all: marital affairs, eyeliner, drunk directors, a man singing opera in Welsh. Long live the archive!
Reposted by Elise Bell
the point of this isn't that Elon is getting Tolkien wrong
October 29, 2025 at 12:28 PM
the point of this isn't that Elon is getting Tolkien wrong
I have been saying this for years
From the November issue, out now: the cultural legacy of Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and co. is undeniable. But with the worlds of decoration and fashion forever ‘rediscovering’ Charleston, and with yet another large show at Tate Britain next year, have we finally passed peak Bloomsbury?
Have we reached peak Bloomsbury yet?
The cultural legacy of Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and co. is undeniable, but with the design, fashion, art and literary worlds forever ‘rediscovering’ them, Matthew Sperling says it’s time to move on
buff.ly
October 29, 2025 at 12:35 PM
I have been saying this for years
Reposted by Elise Bell
what is going on here
September 18, 2025 at 1:37 PM
what is going on here
Reposted by Elise Bell
My story for @service95stories.bsky.social on @sosmediterranee.org's Ocean Viking. The Libyan 'coast guard' opened fire, risking the lives of survivors and crew.
It was a privilege to see them in action - truly incredible people
#searchandrescue
#Mediterranean
www.service95.com/the-reality-...
It was a privilege to see them in action - truly incredible people
#searchandrescue
#Mediterranean
www.service95.com/the-reality-...
The Reality Of Europe’s Border Crisis: This Is Life Onboard Migrant Rescue Ships
It was late afternoon, the heat thick and unmoving, when the call came through. I was the only journalist aboard the Ocean Viking, a search-and-rescue ship patrolling the Central Mediterranean, wh
www.service95.com
September 10, 2025 at 7:33 AM
My story for @service95stories.bsky.social on @sosmediterranee.org's Ocean Viking. The Libyan 'coast guard' opened fire, risking the lives of survivors and crew.
It was a privilege to see them in action - truly incredible people
#searchandrescue
#Mediterranean
www.service95.com/the-reality-...
It was a privilege to see them in action - truly incredible people
#searchandrescue
#Mediterranean
www.service95.com/the-reality-...
The problem with people my age and younger going on Masterchef is that 90% of the time everything they cook feels a liiiitle bit too Mob Kitchen. The Ben Lippett effect needs to be studied.
September 5, 2025 at 10:26 AM
The problem with people my age and younger going on Masterchef is that 90% of the time everything they cook feels a liiiitle bit too Mob Kitchen. The Ben Lippett effect needs to be studied.
Obsessed with the name of this baby carrier.
August 5, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Obsessed with the name of this baby carrier.
Reposted by Elise Bell
New @hepi-news.bsky.social report shows continued fall in foreign language study in England at A-level.
Language teacher recruitment consistently falls well below government targets – in 2024, just 43% of the target was reached.
on.ft.com/4l5SYX4
(Full report www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/07/31/n...)
Language teacher recruitment consistently falls well below government targets – in 2024, just 43% of the target was reached.
on.ft.com/4l5SYX4
(Full report www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/07/31/n...)
Students in England shun foreign languages at A-level, report finds
Ofqual figures show a sharp fall in pupils taking exams in French and German
on.ft.com
July 31, 2025 at 6:40 AM
New @hepi-news.bsky.social report shows continued fall in foreign language study in England at A-level.
Language teacher recruitment consistently falls well below government targets – in 2024, just 43% of the target was reached.
on.ft.com/4l5SYX4
(Full report www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/07/31/n...)
Language teacher recruitment consistently falls well below government targets – in 2024, just 43% of the target was reached.
on.ft.com/4l5SYX4
(Full report www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/07/31/n...)
Reposted by Elise Bell
One in three Gazans goes multiple days without eating.
Malnourished mothers can no longer produce milk to breastfeed their children and hospitals have run out of nutritional supplements to treat gaunt babies https://on.ft.com/3H9L154
Malnourished mothers can no longer produce milk to breastfeed their children and hospitals have run out of nutritional supplements to treat gaunt babies https://on.ft.com/3H9L154
July 27, 2025 at 11:02 AM
One in three Gazans goes multiple days without eating.
Malnourished mothers can no longer produce milk to breastfeed their children and hospitals have run out of nutritional supplements to treat gaunt babies https://on.ft.com/3H9L154
Malnourished mothers can no longer produce milk to breastfeed their children and hospitals have run out of nutritional supplements to treat gaunt babies https://on.ft.com/3H9L154
Incredible wall signage at the Titanic Immersive Experience
July 26, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Incredible wall signage at the Titanic Immersive Experience
Lot of big celebrity deaths of late. I feel in my waters a 2016-wave is approaching. We need to keep tabs on Al Pacino or so help me god
July 24, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Lot of big celebrity deaths of late. I feel in my waters a 2016-wave is approaching. We need to keep tabs on Al Pacino or so help me god
Reposted by Elise Bell
All famines are man-made, all famines are political. Historians of empire and humanitarianism have known this forever. Gaza is not starving, Gaza is being starved, by Israel, and this starvation is enabled by our government and by every other government that does not step in to force food and aid.
July 24, 2025 at 1:48 PM
All famines are man-made, all famines are political. Historians of empire and humanitarianism have known this forever. Gaza is not starving, Gaza is being starved, by Israel, and this starvation is enabled by our government and by every other government that does not step in to force food and aid.
Reposted by Elise Bell
July 24, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Reposted by Elise Bell
Terrible. When I got my AHRC PhD funding I applied directly to the AHRC with my own project. Now students are increasingly tied in to what universities and partner organisations want them to do, stifling research independence - plus fewer projects getting funded overall.
'The number of student-initiated PhD scholarships funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is set to fall by 60 per cent when new doctoral training arrangements come into effect next year, new figures show.' 1/3
‘Student-led’ AHRC PhD places ‘to fall by at least 60 per cent’
Internal modelling released under Freedom of Information enquiry reveals extent of PhD scholarship cuts, with academics fearing impact could be greater still
www.timeshighereducation.com
July 21, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Terrible. When I got my AHRC PhD funding I applied directly to the AHRC with my own project. Now students are increasingly tied in to what universities and partner organisations want them to do, stifling research independence - plus fewer projects getting funded overall.
Friends getting married, what a concept!
July 20, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Friends getting married, what a concept!
Reposted by Elise Bell
Yesterday Palestinian mums & kids were queuing at a clinic to get nutritional supplements when Israel attacked. At least 15 people were killed, including at least 9 children.
James Elder from UNICEF tells how one of those young children had spoken their first word that morning - mama
James Elder from UNICEF tells how one of those young children had spoken their first word that morning - mama
July 11, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Yesterday Palestinian mums & kids were queuing at a clinic to get nutritional supplements when Israel attacked. At least 15 people were killed, including at least 9 children.
James Elder from UNICEF tells how one of those young children had spoken their first word that morning - mama
James Elder from UNICEF tells how one of those young children had spoken their first word that morning - mama
Reposted by Elise Bell
AI technologies and other techno-utopian potentialities are currently ripping through film, television, music and the platforms through which they are distributed. The last time I (a layperson) remember a similar story in the Noble Arts was NFTs, and no one’s talking about Beeple anymore.
July 10, 2025 at 10:43 AM
AI technologies and other techno-utopian potentialities are currently ripping through film, television, music and the platforms through which they are distributed. The last time I (a layperson) remember a similar story in the Noble Arts was NFTs, and no one’s talking about Beeple anymore.
Reposted by Elise Bell
I also read this as a consequence of gig economy/doggedly monetising your hobbies. Obviously rich celebrities don't NEED the money, but I think now it's an expectation that you publicise/professionalise anything you do for 'fun'
July 10, 2025 at 10:41 AM
I also read this as a consequence of gig economy/doggedly monetising your hobbies. Obviously rich celebrities don't NEED the money, but I think now it's an expectation that you publicise/professionalise anything you do for 'fun'
Reposted by Elise Bell
Maybe it speaks to an implicit, unspoken recognition of the devaluation of their original art medium (i.e. film, tv, music) and a retreat (however naive) to a medium of art perceived as more ‘concrete’, ‘traditional’ and resistant to devaluation by current trends?
July 10, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Maybe it speaks to an implicit, unspoken recognition of the devaluation of their original art medium (i.e. film, tv, music) and a retreat (however naive) to a medium of art perceived as more ‘concrete’, ‘traditional’ and resistant to devaluation by current trends?
Real trend at the moment re famous people (actors, musicians etc) releasing to the media news of their artistic practice, almost always some terrible version of abstract expressionism and/or cartoonish version of pop art. A way to get cheap clicks? Media boost with faux sense of intelligence?
July 10, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Real trend at the moment re famous people (actors, musicians etc) releasing to the media news of their artistic practice, almost always some terrible version of abstract expressionism and/or cartoonish version of pop art. A way to get cheap clicks? Media boost with faux sense of intelligence?
Reposted by Elise Bell
"I was under no illusion that The Collected Prose would solve the mystery, or lay to rest the lie, of how Plath was absolutely ordinary up to the point that she wasn’t." Brilliant Patricia Lockwood piece on Sylvia Plath. Cracking intro, too. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Patricia Lockwood · Arrayed in Shining Scales: Solving Sylvia Plath
I was under no illusion that The Collected Prose would solve the mystery, or lay to rest the lie, of how Plath was...
www.lrb.co.uk
July 4, 2025 at 12:39 PM
"I was under no illusion that The Collected Prose would solve the mystery, or lay to rest the lie, of how Plath was absolutely ordinary up to the point that she wasn’t." Brilliant Patricia Lockwood piece on Sylvia Plath. Cracking intro, too. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Elise Bell
I think about this clip alot.
July 4, 2025 at 6:53 PM
I think about this clip alot.
Reposted by Elise Bell
I don’t know why and it’s simply not rational but those electric salt and pepper mills make me really angry, like you know when a dog hates something for no reason and barks every time they see it, that’s how I feel about them
July 2, 2025 at 10:37 AM
I don’t know why and it’s simply not rational but those electric salt and pepper mills make me really angry, like you know when a dog hates something for no reason and barks every time they see it, that’s how I feel about them
Reposted by Elise Bell
On LBC @zoejardiniere.bsky.social lists 3 previous instances where military aircraft have been targeted by campaigners in order to prevent them being used in war crimes, and she describes the govt banning Palestine Action as terrorists as an abuse of state power.
Well said.
Well said.
June 24, 2025 at 5:17 AM
On LBC @zoejardiniere.bsky.social lists 3 previous instances where military aircraft have been targeted by campaigners in order to prevent them being used in war crimes, and she describes the govt banning Palestine Action as terrorists as an abuse of state power.
Well said.
Well said.