#wrong information

Literally all Indian languages (the ones written in Persian script being an exception) are written from left to right. Couldn't Amazon find something else to say about the Eastern languages or about Assamese? 💀 Why do I feel like some lazy American dude, sipping coffee in the office, just copy pasted sh*t from the internet? 💀💀💀

@amazon you can do better than this...

Seriously Google...

NOT SYLVIA PLATH!

Every year around Sylvia Plath’s birthday and deathday (not exclusively, but especially during this time), the first two images are popping up everywhere on the internet. The last two are not so common, but they are still out there!

For the pictures, I blame Pinterest (and the person who pinned them first), but for most of the quotes I blame the long deactivated tumblr “Incorrect Sylvia Plath Quotes” that was very popular a few years back! The shame was that the tumblr only provided the wrong quote signed with Plath’s name, but not the correct authors of the quotes.

The first photo is from the LIFE archives. It was shot by the Russian-born American photographer Nina Leen in 1946 and shows the French actress Barbara Laage (1920-1988) “Alone in her apartment reading” (Sylvia Plath was 13 at that time!).

The second one is still unknown. It always says that it is by Walter/Waker Evans shot in 1959, but I was never able to find out if that’s true or who it is. So, if you ever do, please let me know!

The next two quotes were popularized by the already mentioned tumblr “Incorrect Sylvia Plath Quotes” but are apparently by the Twitter users “hexjackal” in 2012 (even though it was also attributed to Aeryn Walker in 2012 and to Porphyria R'lyeh in 2013 who used in her Facebook post) and “LeFonk” in 2010, while the third one is a line from the song “Zero” released in 1996 by the Smashing Pumpkins on the album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

The quote “If the body is a temple, then tattoos are its stained glass windows.” has been attributed to Sylvia Plath all over the internet and I am not sure who started the wrong label in this case, but the quote comes from the The Tattoo Project: body. art. image. by the photographer, author and filmmaker Vince Hemingson!

It is used in the documentary film as well and in the accompanying book with the same title that was published in 2012. I contacted Vince on instagram some time ago and he confirmed that it is his statement.

The next picture is by Sarah Ann Loreth and was taken on 2 August 2010 (and revisited on 10 May 2011) and posted on her flickr photostream “likedaffodils” as a part of a “literary suicide series”. You can read more about Sarah’s photos here.

And the last picture is fairly new to the game. It shows Ted Hughes’ sister Olwyn (who ironically hated Sylvia Plath) and is by John Springfield and comes from the Esoterica Art Agency where it is being sold on wall art, home decor, phone cases, mugs, apparel etc. I already discovered another shop selling it back in April 2019 and contacted them, but they said that they cannot get a response from the artist. At least, they stopped selling it, but now you can buy it in other shops.

So once something like this starts spreading, there is no way of stopping it! Nevertheless, I’m always trying!

The internet, especially instagram is filled with wrong photos and quotes attributed on Plath (and not only to her) and I think it is really too bad, because there are so many pictures of her out there and she created so many amazing quotes that there is no need to use images or words of someone else when honoring her.

You can even buy various items in many online shops selling things with the incorrectly attributed quotes and images of “Plath”. They appear on goodreads and other quote pages. I even saw numerous tattoos using wrong quotes and pictures and those poor people believe they have (something of) Sylvia Plath tattooed on their bodies! Unfortunately, they don’t! :(

Since they are in so many places right now, it’s only natural that if someone searches for something related to Plath and finds the picture or the quote, they take it. I get it that not everyone has the urge to verify if it’s really her or by her (even though it would be great and it is really easy), but people often tend to totally not care or even get mad if someone or I point it out. I really don’t understand why. Just use another photo or quote (or at least retag it); it won’t mess up your feed!

I’m am going to write a longer piece on that phenomenon one day, but till then, I just wanted to leave you with these, because, let’s honor Sylvia Plath on her deathday (11 Feburary 1963) with HER pictures and quotes and not with those of someone else!

*meanwhile at Voltage last year*

i was planning on actually doing some stuff today but um, it's now 4 in the morning and i feel like i'm about to pass out sO i guess when i wake up i can start answering shit. jfc i'm so sorry