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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty Eight: Using symbols and metaphors to express meaning > Mr. and Mrs. Brown, Ipswich, Massachusetts, 2009
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25-JUL-2009

Mr. and Mrs. Brown, Ipswich, Massachusetts, 2009

By a quirk of fate, the settling ground has gradually caused these gravestones to lean towards each other in a gesture of companionship. They mark the graves of a married couple, Abner and Sarah Brown. They died less than a year apart in 1818 and nearly 200 years later, their tombstones are tilting towards each other as if reaching for an embrace. I converted the image to black and white to complement the background, which speaks of eternity.

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Phil Douglis13-Aug-2009 21:08
That's what I saw here, Tim. Companionship beyond the grave. It is as if their spirits are reaching towards each other.
Tim May13-Aug-2009 20:18
I still like the mood of this - the evoking of companionship as a theme.
Phil Douglis04-Aug-2009 22:09
You are right, Rose -- it is not unusual for such things to happen. But you likely come closer to the truth here by placing the relationship in the context of the times. And yes, the woman gets the last laugh here -- after 200 years of settling dust, her stone stands taller than his.
sunlightpix04-Aug-2009 16:52
Of course, dying of a broken heart is a very modern and romanticised interpretation. This couple lived in the Puritan age. Women were property and the clergy regularly exhorted husbands to beat their wives into submission.
Another twist of an interpretation is that in the end (puns intended) when the dust settles, its the woman on top.
sunlightpix04-Aug-2009 05:49
It's a documented phenomenon of spouses dying within a year of each other, and many medical and social theories have been put forward. Did he die of a broken heart?
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