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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty: When walls speak and we listen > Gravestone, Mirogoj Cemetery, Zagreb, Croatia, 2005
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04-SEP-2005

Gravestone, Mirogoj Cemetery, Zagreb, Croatia, 2005

A tombstone is, in effect, a miniature wall. It is part of a symbolic house, albeit with only one side. It not only marks a grave, but guards it, as well as telling us about those who lie within it. This one speaks eloquently through the interplay of a vintage photograph and the coloration of the granite that surrounds it. The portrait of the woman and daughter is poignant. Perhaps it’s because of their beauty, their costume, and the fact that they are not smiling. Death is not taken lightly. They are surrounded by sea of granite, set against a deep green background, and brushed gently by the shadow from an overhead tree. It is a wall that speaks of the short span of life and the unyielding nature of eternity, and if we listen hard enough, we might even be able to imagine their voices.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20
1/500s f/5.6 at 28.7mm iso80 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time04-Sep-2005 13:01:21
MakePanasonic
ModelDMC-FZ20
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length28.7 mm
Exposure Time1/500 sec
Aperturef/5.6
ISO Equivalent80
Exposure Bias
White Balance (10)
Metering Modemulti spot (3)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Programprogram (2)
Focus Distance

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Phil Douglis07-Dec-2005 04:00
Well said, Mia. Written words can lodge in the mind as a visual experience, because we see them with our own eyes and remember them as such. What a marvelous memory you have of that cemetery visit so many years ago. To be able not only to see the resting place of the dead, but to also touch them as you did, obviously made a deep impression on your mind. You did not say if that visit was a childhood experience for you, or not, but children can have particulary deep impressions of such an event. I recall sights, sounds and touches from the 1940s, when I was growing up, more vividly than many recent ones. Once again, the power of visual, tactile, and audible memory at work. I am so glad I posted this image for you -- look at what it has produced!!!
Mia 06-Dec-2005 22:14
Phil, Now that I think about it, a written word is still a visual element that can remain in our photographic memory. Written words are often not only words, they are something our memory photographs.
As I was reading your comment, I had a flashback I am sharing with you. Twenty years ago, I visited with my father the old village cemetery of his(my) previous relatives (great grandparents/uncles/aunts) who died in the late 19th and early 20th century. They did not have tombstones, but standing wooden crosses and carved wooden plates on the ground to mark where the tombs are. I felt the urge to touch - to feel the wood with inscriptions barely still visible. It was a sort of sensual experience bringing me back in time.
Phil Douglis06-Dec-2005 01:09
Hi, Mia. That's my bias showing. I was a journalism major in college, and I have been writing a column on photojournalism for a professional trade association of communicators for 40 years, along with two books on photographic communication. Yet in spite of all of those words (not to mention the thousands of words I have poured into this site as an educational contribution) I still believe in my heart that a photographic image lasts longer in my heart and imagination than the words I write or read. It is just the way I've come to be, I guess. A verbal person who teaches visual expression is by definition, conflicted. I enjoyed this last comment immensely. I am drawn to cemeteries not because my subjects never move or talk back (as my wife always points out to me) but because they represent mankind's pleas to be remembered, to be respected, and in some cases to even be immortalized. I agree with all you say about them, and I thank you once again for your kindness. I try to make people think with my images, Mia. Think, feel, imagine! That's the whole purpose of expressive photography. As for photographic philosophy, I gladly incorporate that into my plan as well.
Mia 05-Dec-2005 21:26
Phil, I am a bit divided on this one. Although photographs are often more powerful or lasting than words, I do not think that it is always the case. Some words are extremely powerful and lasting. On tombstones, what brings the person closer and more human to us is also signs/illustrations related to a trade, real flowers or a small bush growing at the base of the stone (sign that someone still cares and remembers), personalized quotations, signs related to the religion, the age at death (young children, for example) , sculpted face of the person who is burried there, etc. I like the idea of the tombstone as a small wall, part of a symbolic house. It is very well illustrated as well by your Expatriate Cemetery picture in your recent Mexico Day of the Dead gallery. Cemeteries are usually conducive to respect, silence and serenity or sadness. Your pictures make us think, Phil. Sometimes I think your galleries could also be called photography philosophy!
Phil Douglis03-Dec-2005 15:56
Thanks, Mia. for this lovely train of thought. You are right -- photographs are more indelible than words. In this case, the little portrait on the tombstone makes loss more poignant, personal, and memorable. Even if these people are unknown to us, they become "real" to us because of the portrait. More than a name -- they are human. You will note that I did not include the words on this stone within my frame. I wanted the little portrait to speak for itself. Thank you for looking into this photograph within a photograph and bringing it to life.
Mia 03-Dec-2005 05:06
Dear Nana – I can’t get used to see this picture of you with that aunt I never knew and who died so young – your heart was broken – I guess you have joined her by now. This is a lovely picture, you were pretty and young, but I feel somewhat uneasy about it – it is not you, it is not the grandmother whose voices lulled me, who always thought I was the best, who consoled me so often, whose love was unconditional. Time, hard work and so much loving had wrinkled your face and I loved you so much as an old grandma (and still do). Sometimes I wish these stones would be only a plain wall and the image would be the image of you as I knew you, the image that is in my head, my memory. I guess I would prefer if Phil erased the faces from this beautiful stone and left only your name there. I would still come back often to honour your memory, but I would not feel as if I had lost you as much as I do now.
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