Ellen Van Neerven > Quotes

“Living in an apartment block alone sometimes feels like my room could topple backwards off the building and no one would notice.”
― Ellen Van Neerven, Heat and Light

“Children as young as five are encouraged to be aggressive to their fellow students, using the language of war and blood sports: beat, flog, smash, attack, defend, destroy. The lexicon of violence shapes a language of movement at a young age. Children are told to push through discomfort, toughen up, fight, and to harden themselves into weapons to win at all costs, humiliating another person or group of people. But sport can exist without contest and conquer. It is not about destroying. Let’s see what we create when we are not attempting to destroy something in each other.”
― Ellen Van Neerven, Personal Score: Sport, Culture, Identity

“We decide we won't talk about the politics. What side we're on.”
― Ellen Van Neerven, Heat and Light

“This old woman can spin a yarn. She puts her whole body in it.”
― Ellen Van Neerven, Heat and Light

“Our car was packed up like a real blackfella's car... All someone needed to do was give it a paint job proper way - dots and that.”
― Ellen Van Neerven, Heat and Light

“I've heard we all return to water sometime.”
― Ellen Van Neerven, Heat and Light

“Driving home I switch on the radio and one of those old Motown voices comes on and reaches my heart.”
― Ellen Van Neerven, Heat and Light

“I let her in my mouth. What will this experiment hold for her – what will she find in the flesh of my tongue, the crest of my lips? What will I discover in this uncharted experience? How much of what it means to be human will sway deep in my mind like a ship. I see her eyes are open, those green unhuman eyes, watching, looking at me, but not. Her mouth is alive. I suck on her bottom lip, surrender my teeth. She makes a noise that I could only interpret as arousal but in the weeks I’ve known her I’ve never heard her display in utterance. To feel she is human now is a lie, I must be with who she is. I feel her mind crackle on mine as our foreheads touch, I feel what is between her eyes. We lie down on the bed and she takes off my boots. Her hands are my body temperature. We embrace each other, cradle the warmth between us.”
― Ellen Van Neerven, Heat and Light

“[...] I do not know the common usage of words. They are bricks, aren't they?"

"Some words are loaded," I continue. "Will always be loaded.”
― Ellen Van Neerven, Heat and Light

“[...]I do not know the common usage of words. They are bricks, aren't they?"

"Some words are loaded," I continue. "Will always be loaded.”
― Ellen Van Neerven, Heat and Light

“Unclothed we’re on my bed, her knees at my armpits, her palms flat and open next to me. Her breasts are like lemons. Her skin bruises against mine. She curls her fingers closer to the need of me, her soft thigh presses against mine. I gasp as she moves, she circles me and her mouth moves to my breast. She sucks it with the same rhythm and at the feel of her teeth I feel myself close and groan out. She moves downward with her mouth, and with her tongue she makes me come, wonderfully, feverishly, and I’m feeble after that, but not enough to stop me wanting her, wanting to make her sigh, and I gravitate to her, moving on top and pressing into her. She is deliciously wet, and I put my hand in between us. It is only a short moment until she joins me, shouting, sighing. I kiss her deeply and see how relaxed she looks, eyes curled up. I”
― Ellen Van Neerven, Heat and Light

“I did not tell my little brother I would take him away from it. That I would protect him, that I would stand up to her. It was not in my capacity.”
― Ellen Van Neerven, Heat and Light