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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Forty-Four: Photographing human response – gesture, body language, and expressions > Art imitates life, Rabat, Morocco, 2006
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14-DEC-2006

Art imitates life, Rabat, Morocco, 2006

I am not sure if the young man hamming it up for my benefit realizes that he is echoing the exertions of the lady on the billboard behind him. Like most Moroccan children, he only wants his picture taken. The body language of the woman in the advertisement is exuberantly posed. The child’s posed body language also makes use of both arms, but they point inwards instead of outwards. The ad wants us to come join the fun, while the kid is telling me to take his picture. Meanwhile, the third party to this image trudges past with head down – he wants no part of either the ad or the camera. He is the only party in this image who is not posing.

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Phil Douglis16-Jan-2007 05:56
Tim: I also might suggest one other image from Morocco that should at very least make the viewer feel joyous. And that is this theme image for my doors and arches gallery:http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/72900078
Phil Douglis16-Jan-2007 05:44
Thanks, Tim -- yes, this is the most joyous image I found in Morocco. There are two others in the collection that also express some degree of pleasure and enthusiasm:http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/72904451 andhttp://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/72911051 And yes, there is a counterpoint to this joy in the tread of the man walking through the image, unaware of the kid, the billboard and the camera.
Tim May16-Jan-2007 04:24
There is a joy here - which seems rather rare in this recent collection of images from Morocco - yet the man trudging by echos much of what the other images in this gallery reflect.
Phil Douglis12-Jan-2007 18:19
Music is obviously part of your soul, Zandra. I am delighted that you chose to give so much of it to this image. You add a wonderful context to it that I never envisioned but gladly accept.
Guest 12-Jan-2007 16:27
And while i am on the topic of music and lyrics this one made me think of another classic...modified to suit the pic...

She's got the whole world in her hands...
She's got my brothers and my sisters in her hands..
She's got everybody here in her hands... (Wheter they want it or not...considering the man walking away)
She's got everybody there in her hands,
She's got everybody everywhere in her hands,
She's got the whole world in her hands.

They both seem to say...embrace the world! It is yours to take on!
judy sidonie tillinger11-Jan-2007 17:17
this image should appear in the dictionary of photography next to "gesture"
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