The Many Faces of Love: Portraits of Love Captured Across Different Faces and Experiences

What does love mean? It exists between mothers and children, within families, among lovers, and across chosen kin. Alexi Lubomirski’s “Love Project” captures its many forms as a visual tapestry shaped by lived experience.

Love wears many faces, shows up in unexpected places, and doesn’t follow a rulebook. For some, it is a mother’s love that feels boundless. “What I love about you mom is your sacrifice. There are no limits to it,” says Hanaan, reflecting on the obstacles faced and overcome.

For others, love is something learned with time. “As we’ve got older, I’ve learned that love is about respect and all of the qualities that come with respect,” says Ashley. It can feel instinctive and immediate. “For me, love is like my heart,” says Stella.

Love can also be found in care, patience, forgiveness, and presence, or in the reassurance of feeling safe. “There’s this crazy care where I know that I’m protected and I’m safe,” Willow says. At its simplest, love can mean peace. “I guess love means peace to me,” says Thom.

It’s everywhere, and it means something different to each of us. And for photographer Alexi Lubomirski, one of his greatest joys in life is when he’s able to photograph “love” in some form or another. “To be trusted by your subjects enough, to open themselves up and have their connection documented and translated into an image, is one of the greatest honors, and one that I have been fortunate enough to experience, many times in my life,” he writes about his series, The Love Project.

Here, Lubomirski captures the ways love lives through families, partners, chosen kin, and the unshakeable moments that make it real.

Sharif Hamza with wife Ashley and daughters Stella and Naya

“For me, love is security. The people I love they’re the people that make me feel the most safe, the most secure, the most like myself.”

Sharif Hamza is a British-Filipino Egyptian photographer and filmmaker based between New York and London. Currently, Hamza also serves as a contributing creative director for Vogue Philippines. His wife, Ashley, is a creative producer who has worked across beauty, fashion, and luxury industries, doing both advertising and editorial work.

Charles Short with dogs Dean and Deluca

“Love is eternal love is everlasting, I think in a lot of instances human love can be conditional. Human love can be based on a lot of things that have nothing to do with love. I think that animals see us as our best selves and can relate to us in that way and it’s just very pure, natural and very unconditional.”

Charles Short is a model agent and “proud doggy daddy” to Dean and Deluca.

Belinda Becker with daughter Willow

“A mother’s love is like a bottomless well. It knows no limits. It knows no compromise, it’s unconditional. I don’t think I’ve ever felt unconditional love until I had my child.”

Belinda Becker is a DJ, dancer, writer, and actor, originally from Kingston, Jamaica, and found her way to New York City. Since then, she has spun for venues such as Nell’s and La Esquina and has been featured in publications such as Vogue Italia. Her daughter, Willow, enjoys spending time with her mom, even bringing her friends along to her mother’s DJ sets in New York City.

Garren with husband Thom Priano

“He’s always taken care of me. He’s always protected me, he’s always kept me safe. We are just one big family no matter whether it’s good or bad or ugly we get over it we never go to bed mad we and never sleep in different rooms we’re always together and I think love is being able to open your heart and to bring people in and also to forgive.”

Garren and Thom Priano entered the New York fashion scene in the ’70s as a two-man styling team, styling for shows such as Valentino and Dolce & Gabbana. Now, they are co-founders of R+Co, an award-winning line of haircare products.

Sakinah Zahran with daughter Hanaan Louis

“A mother’s love is the most powerful thing under the sun. Stronger than my fears, stronger than my doubts, stronger than anything and as such it endures more than any other emotion. It can withstand betrayal and heartbreak and grief. It can withstand trauma. It’s unbreakable.”

Sakinah Zahran is a novelist, small businesswoman, and entrepreneur. Her daughter, Hanaan Louis, is an award-winning Muslim filmmaker, digital and analog freelance photographer, and serial entrepreneur.

Calvin Royal III with husband Jacek Mysinski

“My definition of love is being seen, heard, and cared for. Love is feeling like you have someone to experience life with, feeling whole.”

Calvin Royal III has been a member of American Ballet Theatre (ABT) since 2010 and a principal dancer since 2020. His husband, Jacek Mysinski, is a Juilliard-trained musician from Warsaw, Poland, and is a company pianist for ABT. The couple met while Mysinski was auditioning for ABT, which was during a rehearsal for Balanchine’s Theme and Variations. Royal then approached the piano and sparked up a conversation, and 10 years later, the couple tied the knot in 2021.

Alexi Lubomirski with wife Giada

“The tapestry of our love grows each day, Bright, joyful colors lay happily next to more somber, muted shades. At times, the outer threads fray and try to break loose but the main body is so intricate, so interlaced with love that it is impossible to unravel. So our tapestry continues to grow, over changing emotional landscapes of love, happiness and loss. Ever more rich, ever more vibrant, ever more textured. Its growth, warms and protects us and our evolving union. Each stitch speaking of shared memories and shared love. Each color an achievement or struggle. So let us not fear any goal, trial or battle, for these shall increase the strength and beauty of our bond. Our tapestry is our story, and our story is love.”

Alexi Lubomirski is an English photographer known for taking the official photographs of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for their engagement and wedding. Alexi has also worked as a fashion photographer in New York City and has had his work published in Vogue, Men’s Vogue China, GQ USA, and Allure. His wife, Giada, is the founder of Ecoshaker, a social media platform that supports environmental education and action.

Amber Valletta with husband Teddy Charles

“Love is kind of the most important thing in life; the more you can accept it, and the more you can give it. And what it feels like to me is self-forgetting but also self-affirming and life-affirming and joyful and deep and warm, safe.”

Amber Valleta is a mother, supermodel, actress, and activist who has been the face of Giorgio Armani, Chanel, Escada, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Valentino, Gucci, and Versace. Her husband, Teddy Charles, is a hairstylist who has worked on commercial and editorial projects for fashion houses such as Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, and Calvin Klein.

Dana Hanlon with daughter Lucia

“What I hope for Lucia is that she grows up to feel confident and strong and happy. Happy with herself, and happy with the world, and that she carries on her current level of empathy for people and animals, and that she lives her life for herself and for her happiness and not for anybody else’s approval or anybody else’s happiness.”

Dana Hanlon is a pilates instructor based in Los Angeles, California.

Paulina Porizkova and sons Jonathan and Oliver

“Oliver is an incredibly sort of evolved soul, because he’s not afraid of feelings as a man. I feel pretty proud that I happen to have a son like this. And as for Jonathan, you couldn’t find somebody who was kinder and gentler and more caring about other people, and obviously they’re both really good-looking and super smart, and I’m totally objective as their mother.”

Paulina Porizkova is a fashion model, author, and actress who has been featured in campaigns for Chanel, Versace, Hermes, Christian Dior, Oscar De La Renta, Barneys New York, and Revlon. Her sons, Jonathan and Oliver, are students of game design and computer science, and classic composition respectively.

Selma Blair with son Arthur

“I love that Arthur is so honest and playful and really bright, a great, really great companion. And I’m sorry if I’m a bit of a sister sometimes. That’s what happens, we’re each other’s, you know, so things are kind of funny, but there’s nowhere I would rather be next to Arthur when he’s sleeping.”

Selma Blair is an actress and MS advocate who has starred in films such as Cruel Intentions, Legally Blonde, and The Sweetest Thing.

Jessica Hafford with daughter Ruby

“It was pretty profound, I mean, as soon as they put you or put her on your chest all covered in guck, it was pretty immediate, I have to say. But watching the people I love fall in love with her was really profound, and I think that kind of changed everything in a very deep way. Just how much joy she brings, and then all of a sudden I was like, ‘Oh, that’s it, that’s what this is.’ This thing called love.”

Jessica Hafford is an executive producer and photorgraphy and production director who has worked in fashion and advertising.

Photographs by ALEXI LUBOMIRSKI. Beauty Editor JOYCE OREÑA. Production: Emily Ullrich. Post Production: Kram Retouching. Talents: Sharif, Ashley, Stella & Naya Hamza, Dana Hanlon & Lucia, Hanaan Louis & Sakinah Zahran, Claude & Izel, Velandia-Onofre, Belinda Becker & Willow, Paulina Porizkova, Oliver & Jonathan, Charles Short, Dean and Deluca, Garren & Thom Priano, Calvin Royal III & Jacek Mysinski, Selma Blair & Arthur, Jessica Hafford & Ruby, Amber Valletta & Teddy Charles