Fabriano, Italy 2007.
while still in college, i fell in love with photography and the darkroom. my passion for photographs has not faded since then, and i still have virtually every negative i've ever exposed.
of my school's two Latin teachers, Miss Coates and Miss Yergin, i believe it was Miss Coates who introduced our little class to the works of
Gaius Catullus.
Catullus was the leader of what were mockingly called by the establishment poets in the time of Julius Caesar "poetae novi" (the new poets). instead of fusty epics about gods and generals, the new poets engaged in self-revelation about their personal life.
most prominent in Catullus's personal life was his mad love affair with a woman whose reputation was not too dissimilar from Madonna's today. except that, unlike Madonna, she was a respected poetess in Roman literary circles and was born into one of Rome's most ancient aristocratic families.
because she was married at the time to a Roman Senator, Catullus could not use her real name in his poetry. instead, his poems refer to her as "
Lesbia", a double
entendre that includes reference to the island where Catullus's poetic muse,
Sappho had written her love poetry 500 years earlier.
i'm in the process of writing an illustrated biography of Lesbia. my photography is intended as illustrations for this work. for example:
ODI ET AMO. QUARE ID FACIAM, FORTASSE REQUIRIS?
NESCIO, SED FIERI SENTIO ET EXCRUCIOR.
{Gaius Catullus; circa 63 BC}
i hate and i love. why's that?, you ask.
i don't know; but, i feel crucified and cremated.
{gaetano catelli -- 2007-9 all rights.}
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