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12-Feb-2006 20:47
trapped and safe at the same time...
what is very touching for me is the way that she is holding the bars and her face and body expression. In a way I feel that she has fused with the enviroment, there's a kind of resignation in her look; but, on the other way, there's this silent expression of "pride" that is saying 'this is my place'.
For me, the 'frontier' is right in her hands..
Kal, as you so often do, you've written my own thoughts about the picture exactly. it would be so easy to look at this image and think of it in terms of the lady behind bars, but like you say, any barrier is two way. how you view the two sides depends entirely on your own perception of circumstances. here is a lady who is living in relative "poverty", by economic standards, looking through the metal grill at me, who in comparison has all the wealth in the world. it makes me wonder whether, at that time, her position behind those bars was as isolating as it would be instinctive to think. actually, behind those bars she has her house, her space, maybe a family, comfort and safety. as a tourist at that moment, i had none of those things...being in an alien country with no one i knew, relative discomfort due to being ill, constantly having to be hypervigilant to another country's customs, dangers and so on. i suddenly realised, that actually right then i was the one behind bars - even though in reality my role would suggest i had all the freedom in the world.
Very emotive picture Ruth...one becasue of the environment, but also the expression on the face..and the hands....the hands are expressing and emphasising a barrier...a two-way barrier... a barricade...keeping in as much as out..K
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