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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Two: Travel Incongruities > Up in arms, Willemstad, The Netherlands, 2005
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17-JUN-2005

Up in arms, Willemstad, The Netherlands, 2005

This is one of the most enigmatic advertisements I've seen on my travels. A pair of arms rising from a small moat in front of a shop seems to be promoting a number of Willemstad enterprises. I spot-metered on the white sign to make the water turn black, and conceal the origin of the arms. I use four layers to make the incongruity work –- first the inky black water, then the arms and hands, followed by the sign and flower basket, and finally the window frame with its white upright sides repeating the vertical thrusts of the arms and its mysterious black opening repeating the black water. The arms are simultaneously shocking and amusing. They simply don’t belong here, and that is what incongruity is all about.

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Merri 06-May-2018 08:46
What a macabre image! Those arms apparently were torn off some poor soul to sell such mundane items as photocopies and stamps. Yeesh!
Phil Douglis20-Aug-2005 01:35
I made it even more disturbing by exposing on the brightest part of this picture with my spot meter, so that the water gets even darker, and the source of the arms becomes totally invisible. Yes, this image is enigmatic, incongruous, disturbing, and to some like yourself, shocking. That was my intention. The creators of this advertisement probably thought they were being clever and amusing, but to me, it was horrific. And that is why I made this image as I did. Thanks, Marisa, for such an honest reaction.
Guest 19-Aug-2005 22:12
Phil.. what a shocking image! It is really disturbing. The first time I saw this picture I thought they were 'true' arms.. I don't know what is the advertisement.. but what a way of making it!!
Such contradiction between the flower basket and those cut arms, just hanging over the nothing... looks like a piece of a maddening world to me.. a fragmented body in a fragmented world. I must recongnized that it is even hard to look at, for me.
Have this feeling of a human that tried to reach the way out from darkness but finished cut off and dead... disturbing and overwhelming!
Phil Douglis09-Aug-2005 16:23
I agree. It is disturbing. That is why I made this image. I like your interpretation, Dandan, regarding the soul hanging between worlds. Since the figure is part of an advertisement, perhaps we have made a social comment here regarding the ultimate value of commerce?
Guest 09-Aug-2005 10:26
This is a rather disturbing image to me. The inky water almost likes hell or death; and there is a soul is hanging between the world of live and death and struggling and fighting for his existence…
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