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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty Nine: Juxtaposition – compare and contrast for meaning > Cornered, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2006
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25-DEC-2006

Cornered, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2006

By juxtaposing a homeless man resting in a ruined building and the ravaged ornamentation on its walls, I create a metaphor for a life in ruins. There is also juxtaposition in color contrast here as well – the man is dark, while the ruins around him, and particularly the ornamentation, are almost cheerful.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/250s f/4.5 at 16.0mm iso100 full exif

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Phil Douglis25-Jan-2007 23:36
You are right, Tim -- the loss of pride and self-image is a universal plague. There are people like this all over the world, including here in the US. But to see both a crumbling building and a crumbling man within it in one of the most historic and beautifully exotic cities in the world comes as shock. As both a traveler and travel photographer, I felt obliged to take note of it as an expressive image. It gave me, and should give my viewers, something to think about.
Tim May25-Jan-2007 17:22
I have two thoughts about this one - One echos what Cecilia said about the crumbling of pride - aside from the human toll that is shown here - somebody once loved this building enough to ornately decorate it - now it is lost - and Two:
I think that travel and travel photography allow us to see our culture and society more clearly - aside from the clearly definitive architecture, this image could be made in almost any city in our country.
Phil Douglis23-Jan-2007 20:30
Thanks, Celia, for letting me know that you had left a comment on this image. I had somehow missed it. You make some excellent points here. This is not really travel photography. It is social commentary. Sometimes, however, the two come together, as is the case here. You are right -- this image traces the decline of this man, and in a sense, the society in which he lives, as we move from top to bottom. Unfortunately, there are many others like him in Morocco. The social services here, if they exist, have certainly failed him. Morocco is, like most third world countries, a place of extremes. It has rich, and it has poor, and sometimes its people may be beyond poor. They may be altogether lost.
Cecilia Lim20-Jan-2007 23:33
How can ugly poverty exist in a city that prides itself in beauty and fine art? And why did this very pride crumble into pieces? Your stirring image expresses ideas that go beyond a description of a homeless man in the ruins, and gives us an opportunity to think about human values and the progress of man.

And we really feel for this man, who glares back with an uneasiness, sleeping on the cold and broken pieces of hard concrete with nothing more than a piece of thin cardboard & crumpled cloth for a bed. What really accentuates the sad plight of this homeless man is also the sense of hierarchy here that finds him right at the bottom, where you've framed him. We find the beautiful vibrant colours and fine ornamentation at the top which progresses into ugly patchy greys and fragments of the ruins as we work our eyes to the bottom where he resides. His grey robe also blends in with the grey floor which appear to define his place in this society. A very poignant and haunting image that goes beyond "travel" photography Phil. Great work!
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