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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Fourteen: Expressing the meaning of buildings and structures > Hall of the People, Chongqing, China, 2004
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28-JUN-2004

Hall of the People, Chongqing, China, 2004

A staggering thirty million people live with the jurisdiction of Chongqing, making it the largest municipality on earth. Yet I chose to use only one of its residents in this image. He has deliberately placed himself in the middle of a huge staircase, before one of the city’s largest and grandest buildings, its Hall of the People. He seems to be eating something, and has a bag at his side. I arranged this picture very formally as a study in scale incongruity. This lone figure, dwarfed by the grandiose structure, certainly tells a story. Perhaps I should have titled the picture “Hall of the Person.” A few moments after I made this shot, the local police asked him to depart. Apparently they took a dim view of his use of the facility.

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Phil Douglis27-Feb-2005 03:10
Good point, Dandan. The distance between the power and the people is not just a matter of China. It is a universal issue. People vs. Institutions. People vs. Corporations. People vs. Government. Us against them. You are right. There are overtones of all of that in this image.
Guest 31-Jan-2005 16:08
Phil, I see this not only the scale incongruity; the only intruder presented in front of the “hall of the people” is another layer of incongruity. It shows the distance between the power and people in China.
Phil Douglis17-Nov-2004 18:32
Thanks, Anna -- this image is typical of architecture designed primarily to impress itself upon the landscape through sheer scale. Formidable is a good word for this building. No clouds, either. Yes, it is a study in bleakness as well. There is a double incongruity here, Anna -- first, the small person alone on that vast stage, and then the concept of great expense and wealth required to build a building like this yet it seems so lifeless and inhumane at the same time.
Anna Yu17-Nov-2004 16:34
From this angle the building looks formidable. No wonder there are no people there, the huge Hall of People is not very inviting. Even the sky is bleak, with no familiar clouds.
Phil Douglis28-Oct-2004 02:57
Another interesting post script, Rodney -- after I made this picture, the cops came and hustled this guy out of there, so not even one person was allowed to clutter these steps that evening. Amazing. (Apparently he was selling stuff, which is a no-no.)
Guest 28-Oct-2004 02:21
It's interesting the "hall of the people" is void of such. It's as if there is some invisible "no trespassing" sign in play
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