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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty Two: Black and white travel photography – making less into more > The Liberator, Newburyport, Massachusetts, 2009
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22-JUL-2009

The Liberator, Newburyport, Massachusetts, 2009

While prowling the streets of the touristy town of Newburyport, I stumbled upon a statue of William Lloyd Garrison, the prominent American abolitionist, journalist and social reformer. Daniel Chester French, who later created the famed statue in the Lincoln Memorial, sculpted this statue in 1983 to commemorate Garrison’s birth in Newburyport. Garrison, who edited the abolitionist newspaper, “The Liberator,” was known for his oratory, and French’s sculpture depicts him forcefully gesturing. I moved in on his gesturing hand, silhouetting it against the gathering storm clouds overhead. The ship weathervane atop Newburyport’s old Baptist Church (now a restaurant) in the background points at the menacing clouds. I converted this image to black and white because it further abstracts an already abstracted photograph.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1
1/320s f/22.0 at 67.0mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis11-Sep-2009 18:59
Thanks, Iris, for seeing the historical symbolism in this image. These symbols were very much in my own mind as I composed this picture. I like your interpretation, focusing on the strength of the man and the strength of his ideas and storm times that accompanied them.
Iris Maybloom (irislm)11-Sep-2009 00:43
Garrison's outstretched arm dwarfs both the sky and the ship weathervane signifying his monumental place in our history. Despite the storm clouds that circled Garrison and his unpopular abolitionist views, he continued to reach out and speak out against the injustices of slavery. Your image depicts his strength and the strength of his ideas.
Phil Douglis06-Aug-2009 16:58
Thanks, Tim - given Garrison's intentions, your metaphor rings true here. Another interpretation would have the ship atop the vane symbolize Newburyport itself - long a harbor for sailing ships.
Tim May06-Aug-2009 16:27
I see the ship atop the weathervane as a symbol for the freeing of the slaves, letting them set sail on the next 150 years of stormy seas.
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