“ Chat GPT tells me Sappho’s work is fragmented because she wrote on perishable materials that do not stand the test of time. Causation is a thorny thing. I say, surely Plato wrote on papyrus too?
Yes, it says, but scribes copied his works onto more durable things like vellum. Thirty-six remain, fully intact more than 2,000 years later. I say, It sounds to me like the paper wasn’t the problem. It’s the decider who determines which voices we let linger.
But I keep thinking about those students of Sappho’s, for she had them too, just as Plato did. I wish they’d taken up the role of preservationist, digging a library cave and lining it in stone, carving her poems into the walls, making a map to the crypt that they’d tattoo on their hip, passing it along to their daughter when she was of age, their granddaughter after her, so no matter what war the men were fighting and how broken the land became, her words would still be there breathing.
I wonder in what way we’re still doing this now. Guarding his work from the elements as we let hers decay, saying all the while—she did write it on perishable material. ”
— excerpt from In Her Own Right
Inspired by this piece on Sappho, Allison Worden, owner of Arctic Tern Books in Rockland, Maine, conceived of an In Her Own Right exhibit that would bring the vignettes from the pages of the book into the world — to be discussed and wrestled with and lived beside.
Around the perimeter of the room, Allison placed chairs for each of the women featured in In Her Own Right. Upon each chair rests a stack of books either written by or about that woman—as though each writer or artist has been invited to accompany us in the room. You'll find books about Hilma af Klint and Lee Krasner, Georgia O'Keeffe and Frida Kahlo, as well as works by Shakespeare & Company's Sylvia Beach, Jamaica Kincaid, Deborah Levy, and Sylvia Plath. Each chair holds a portal into another woman's work and world.
You can browse the curated library here and purchase books in such a way that supports Arctic Tern and their fierce commitment to women in the arts.
Visit the Exhibit
The In Her Own Right exhibit is on view at the Arctic Tern Sanctuary, 434 Main Street, Rockland, Maine, through September 30, 2025. Prints of the In Her Own Right pieces and illustrations are available at the show.