11-DEC-2006
Craft shops, Essaouira, Morocco, 2006
Some of Morocco’s finest woodworkers ply their craft behind these massive doors. Why iron doors embedded rock? Because their workspaces were formerly solid concrete rooms used to store munitions beneath Essaouira’s ancient ramparts. I photographed a whole row of these former munitions storehouses from a ramp leading down from the top of the ramparts. I waited until two of the occupants made themselves visible within those iron doors in order to add a human presence to the scene.
21-DEC-2006
Veiling, Tineghir, Morocco, 2006
While walking thorough Tinegir’s medina, I saw this woman struggling to veil herself at the door to a home. The moment is both abstract and incongruous, and rich in human values as well. It is the doorway that gives the image it’s meaning. The woman is going out into public and thus must dress appropriately to her faith and convictions. The door symbolizes her private world. The space before it is the threshold of the public world. When she leaves that step, her body must be completely covered. And it was.
25-DEC-2006
A pair of doors, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2006
One door is elegantly tiled. The other is wide open -- leading to a public toilet. The man at left is the attendant, collecting about twelve cents from each and every visitor. The story here is simple one. The two doors are richly diverse. The one at left implies wealth and power. The one at right speaks to a common need. We have no access to the first door. But if we give the fellow on the left twelve cents, we are all free to follow in the footsteps of the fellow in the gray jellaba.
24-DEC-2006
Door, Palais Bahia, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2006
A splash of sun on the corner of this elegant 19th Century door is complimented by the glow of stained glass reflections on the wall behind it. This is the most beautiful palace in Marrakesh. Two grand viziers built it at the end of the 19th century. The decorative materials are intact and lavish in detail. By abstracting the entire palace down to a single corner of one door, I am encouraging my viewers to open it all the way, and imagine the rest.