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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery One: Travel Abstractions -- Unlimited Thought > By the old city wall, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2006
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27-DEC-2006

By the old city wall, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2006

The 900 year-old wall that completely encircles the medina (old city) of Marrakesh is broken by a series of ancient gates. I stood near one such gate at sunset and watched people entering and leaving the medina. I noticed that as people came through the gate, they momentarily left their shadow behind on the wall next to it. I adjusted my frame to create a series of four panels moving from left to right – a piece of the outer wall, the brickwork of the gate itself, the heavily shadowed inside wall of the gate, and a continuation of the outer wall. As people walked through the gate and out of the right hand edge of my frame, I photographed their lingering shadows against the outer wall. Abstraction is essentially the art of leaving out. I leave out the appearance of the wall and gate, as well as the presence of the people themselves. I only suggest these elements, leaving the rest to the imagination of the viewer.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/1000s f/8.0 at 30.1mm iso100 full exif

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Phil Douglis26-Sep-2007 23:18
Thanks, Marisa, for using this image as a trip through time. To see loss here offers an entirely new dimension to the image. That yawning black shadow can indeed be a metaphor for the unknown, for what is lost and now forgotten forever.
Guest 15-Sep-2007 11:58
The intriguing shadow in that little corner changes completely the mood and interpretation of this photograph: it open questions that look for answers. Without it, the photograph should be 'empty'. But with it, imagination can fly! the position of the shadow makes me read the image from right to left and I 'see' like shadows of past civilizations, that are the background of what we are today... the beginning, the dark Middle Age, the Renaissance, and that kind of 'tabula rasa' of the present (so close in form and appearence to that beginning.. so many things and knowledge lost forever...).
Phil Douglis04-Aug-2007 18:29
Thanks, Patricia, for defining how the accumulation of context continually changed your perception of this image. Context becomes a key factor in abstract photography. A hint of context within a title or caption can redirect the imagination in countless ways. You are right -- it is amazing how much a few contextual nudges can stimulate the human imagination. The more abstract the image, the more important such context can be.
Patricia Lay-Dorsey04-Aug-2007 15:58
When I first looked at this photo I only saw the bold shapes and textures. Then it was as if out of the corner of my eye I saw someone crouched down beside the gate. I immediatley assumed it was a beggar. My stereotypes operate all too well! And then I read the caption and learned that instead it was a shadow left behind by a passerby. Then the image took on a different, more nuanced meaning to me: it became the repository of all the shadows of all the persons who have passed this way over the centuries. Then I read your response to Dandan's comment, and it took on an ominous tone as I thought of the dead who have hung from these gates. Isn't it amazing the places our minds can travel given just a few nudges?
Phil Douglis29-Jun-2007 17:42
Your interpretation, Daniel, is certainly valid. As for having to force the meaning out of an image, it is generally best to let the meaning come to you. And yes, read the caption -- in the case of my images, the caption always adds context for meaning. It is also important that you look at this picture as an example of how abstraction works, because that is its purpose here. As you will read in my caption, the whole point of the image is to leave room for the imagination of the viewer to work. If it fails to work for you immediately, it simply means that you were unable to process the image within your own imagination at first, but the more you look at it, the more you think about it, and the more you read about it, the more accessible the image becomes.
Guest 28-Jun-2007 22:44
I'm having a hard time interpreting this image, Phil. At first glance, nothing really speaks to me. The shadow of the human is interesting, and the composition is refreshingly simple, but that's about it. After closely studying the photo for awhile, I almost felt like I had to force a meaning out of the photo. Once I accepted that the wall was 900 years old (it sure doesn't look like it!), the shadow reminded me of a ghost or a spirit, returning to its home.
Phil Douglis03-May-2007 23:54
Without the man, there is no picture here for me, Dandan. Shadows can be interpreted as phantoms or ghosts, and the ancient walls of Marrakesh are haunted places. It was always at these entrances to the city that the heads of enemies and criminals were hung. So what better place to look for ghosts that walk us back into history? The man is gone, but his shadow lingers.
Guest 03-May-2007 22:54
The shadow of the man bring the picture alive, or he bring us back to the history....
Phil Douglis12-Jan-2007 18:44
Thanks for parterning this image to my leaping boy in the arch photo, Tim. It is the opposite side of life, indeed. As for the "wall as the holder of history," just yesterday my friend and student Zandra Titso, in commenting on that boy in the arch photo, said: "If walls could whisper, I wonder what these walls would have to say? What witness would they bear? Surely they would tell us about the horror they have seen and about the joy they have witnessed. What would we learn from these walls?... " Certainly, Zandra's poignant observation would hold true for the walls in this image as well.
Tim May12-Jan-2007 18:36
This image partners, in my mind, with this image http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/72900078 with the wall as the holder of history. In this image we see the end of the line, the shadow of death, in the other the boy is running into his life with enthusiasm, the wall holds the color and beauty of the life lived.
Phil Douglis11-Jan-2007 04:33
Thanks, CM, for this observation. Abstraction is the great simplifier. Thr simpler the image, the more effective such contrasts as these become.
CM Kwan10-Jan-2007 23:30
Phil,
The contrasts, between the lightened and shadowed walls, between the scale of the architecture and the man, form simple composition but speak so much.
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