VERBATIM: Poetry in Motion

DONOVAN Goes Greek for Govinda Gallery’s 30th

Georgetown’s Govinda Gallery celebrated 30 years on September 23 with a presentation of the first photo exhibition of musician and artist Donovan’s “Sapphographs.” The show can be seen through November 12. Over the years, some of the gallery’s highlights have included several exhibitions for Andy Warhol, with whom the gallery was closely associated, the first exhibition of Annie Leibowitz’s photographs and a 20th Anniversary exhibition featuring photographs of Mohammed Ali by Howard Bingham.

This fall, Donovan celebrates his 40th anniversary as an entertainer. Along with his exhibition at Govinda Gallery, a career retrospective box set “Try for the Sun: The Journey of Donovan” and his autobiography, “The Hurdy Gurdy Man,” were released to mark this occasion. A prolific songwriter, poet and musician, Donovan is recognized as one of the most popular and innovative recording artists of our time. Donovan sat down with Govinda Gallery owner Chris Murray to discuss the show and give us a little insight into his inspirations.

Chris Murray: What inspired you to create this visual tribute to the ancient Greek poet Sappho?

Donovan: My interest in photography goes back to my father. When I was a boy in Glasgow, I used to watch him develop pictures in his dark room. It was magic seeing them come to life in the white China tray— as if by magic— so photography was always a love. While taking an art course some years ago, I took my Roliflex and started shooting ancient sites, like the Etruscan Ruins above Florence and Vesoli, and that got me going on my love of Theology again. One day I was in California and got to thinking about the Greek drama, so I put my daughter Oriel, her friend, and my wife in white face and white linen and I started to get into this Greek drama thing. I looked into the poems of Sappho and thought that I’d be great to do a series Cindy Sherman-style, where I create photographs of an imaginary Greek play.

CM: What qualities of ancient Greek mythology to you feel are important today?

D: If it wasn’t for the Greeks, where would we be? The invention of the written word was not Greek, but they took it to a fine art and of course they invented Democracy. The speech to the Ephesians by Pericles and others, the ancient works really [established] how each member of the tribe in society should have a say, and stop tyranny and aristocratic rule, which always ends in bloodshed. We may not have gotten rid of the bloodshed, but without the Greeks, we wouldn’t have the systems we have. Greek art was extraordinary. The Renaissance benefited from Greek culture, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and all modern artists have benefited from Greek art. They taught us how to think, how to rule, how to party, and how to create art.

CM: In your album, “Sutras,” you do a beautiful song based on a fragment of the poet Sappho’s “Be Mine,” and recently an unknown fragment of Sappho’s work has been uncovered. Is the fact that only fragments remain of Sappho’s poetry part of the allure for you?

D: Even the fragments are fascinating. There’s one complete poem and the rest are like broken pieces of sculpture. In fact, the latest finding, I believe, was found written on papyrus wrapped around an Egyptian mummy from the 3rd century B.C. But for me, putting parts of her poems together, like reconstructing it for the song “Be Mine,” was fascinating. The brand new fragment that was found may be another full poem but who knows? This one is lamenting her growing old, although I don’t know who actually translated it. It was discovered last year by researchers at Cornell University that she laments aging. [Quote from poem] “My once tender body, old age now has seized, my hairs turn white instead of dark, my hearts grown heavy, my knees will not support me, that once on a time where fleets of the dances fawns, the state I oft bemoan but what to do, not to grow old? Being human, there’s no way.”

CM: Beautiful.

D: It’s a fascinating piece and I will put it music as well, maybe for my exhibit of Sapphographs coming up.

CM: I want to congratulate you on your extraordinary box set that Sony is releasing and your autobiography that are both just coming out now.

D: The Sapphographs may take precedence over both of those items, but the fact that they come out at the same time, is extraordinary. Sapphographs at Govinda Gallery is the first of what’s loosely called my 40th anniversary.