I intended to create a text art piece with quotes from Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. The quotes explore how love isn’t an abstract force separate from the lover, but is shaped by the character and morality of the one who loves. Roses often symbolize love; once picked, a rose is no longer free—it exists for the pleasure of the one who possesses it. Similarly, a beloved can become an object in the lover’s gaze—something to be admired, much like a rose in a vase.