You Burn Me
You Burn Me is a visual examination of the works of the Ancient Greek poet Sappho. Much of her work is decorated with imagery and themes that bring the experience of heartbreak above the surface we often push those feelings under. Sappho doesn’t write of anger and betrayal, but of bittersweet love. The memories she outlines are both painful and beautiful. Her works reflect a part of the human condition that is not exclusive to her time and is experienced by anyone who has ever been attached to someone or something they have since lost.
The two different figures featured in You Burn Me follow a recurring theme in the writings of one who is remembered and one who does the remembering. Part of the series reflects the symbolic illustrations Sappho uses when describing her past love, and the other part portrays the reaction she has to the feeling of losing that person. Her writings connect her personal experiences to modern humanity, as the emotions she expresses are not lost with time.
I long and seek after
-Sappho 36
you came and I was crazy for you and you cooled my mind that burned with longing
-Sappho 48
I conversed with you in a dream
-Sappho 134
stars around the beautiful moon hide back their luminous form whenever all full she shines on the earth
-Sappho 34
because I prayed this word: I want
-Sappho 22
when I look at you, even a moment, no speaking is left in me
-Sappho 31
for those I treat well are the ones who most of all harm me
-Sappho 26
I swear, against my will I leave you
-Sappho 94
but I am not one who likes to wound rather I have a quiet mind
-Sappho 120
I want to say something but shame prevents me
-Sappho 137
but me you have forgotten
-Sappho 129A
not one girl I think who looks on the light of the sun will ever have wisdom like this
-Sappho 56
someone will remember us I say even in another time
-Sappho 147
