(Read this post while you listen to this EP)
“I heard the sound of your keys jingling at the door, you opened it, and your bag hit the floor. I was sitting on the couch reading a book. Just when I thought you were going to lean in and kiss me you said, “We need to talk.”
My heart raced for the wrong reasons, I knew the outcome of that conversation would not be good. I thought I had everything with you, but overnight something changed. Our paths which once converged, deviated just a couple of miles down the road. Our story stopped in mid-sentence, and I never understood why. My heart was shattered to the point the pieces were too small that nothing was left inside me.”
The photographer, Sarah Babah knows what it means to be brokenhearted. Through her photographs, she explores the chronicles of a break up, and the contrast between togetherness and loneliness. This series is the result of a friendly request by Babah’s friend Ta-Ku, a musician and experimental artist. Each photo is a visual complement of Ta-Ku’s EP “Song to Break Up To”.
The ghost of a past lover exists in the sepia tones of every picture taken by Babah. They are fragments of a love story — “We were just kids when we first fell in love, it was 1996”— and when they are put together, the photos become a novel — “I’ve been hitting the wall no one’s taking your place”— which is filled of tragedy, tears, bad, and good choices. “I’d rather be lonely knowing that no one will love you the way that I do, another cold night, just me and the moon,” Ta-Ku later sings with a fast pace, as if waiting for the beat to take the pain away.
Our heart is a vessel, it has the ability to keep our love safe, but when it is shattered by the one we love the most, it never goes back to being the same. Yes, we can put it back together, we glue the pieces but it’s still not enough. The vessel now has cracks, chipped edges, and other imperfections which visually remind us of the illusions of an “I’ll love you forever.” We are no longer able to use it like we used to do, unless someone help us rebuild it from scratch with new love.
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“Beginning to End”
We know when something is wrong, but we choose to fool ourselves and pretend nothing has changed.
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“Heartbreak (Sinking)”
What else is left to do? We cannot walk away. We choose to stay and be miserable together, rather than be lonely.
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“I Miss You”
The aching heart demands a break, but we insist in feeding it pain.
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“Love Lost”
To think about them again and again, will do nothing to mend our broken hearts
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“I Miss You More”
We will never completely heal, even when we think the worst is over.
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“We Were in Love”
But the memories remain, and a part of us wants them back.
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“Wasted Time”
Did we really waste our time, or did we not enjoy it while it lasted? Even when love has gone we should acknowledge it made us happy.
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“Healing”
Nothing last forever, even pain.
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The work of Sarah Babah reflects the power of the song’s lyrics, but when the portraits are separated from its musical context, they still reflect the gloomy aspects of a break up and the painful outcomes.
