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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty Four: The Workplace -- essence of a culture > Toil, Bucharest, Romania, 2009
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22-OCT-2009

Toil, Bucharest, Romania, 2009

Hefting a crowbar, this woman is breaking up a concrete sidewalk in a churchyard. Candles glow softly behind her as she bends to her task. She works persistently and steadily at a job that in many places would be done by men. It is the 21st century, but this image could just as well been made, had there been cameras, at any time in Bucharest’s thousand-year history. I do not show the work at hand. I show instead how that work must feel.

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Phil Douglis04-Nov-2009 22:44
Black is the color of conformity, and often is considered mournful. She grew up under Communism, and it seems here as if little has changed for her.
Iris Maybloom (irislm)04-Nov-2009 21:53
The dress also contributes to the timelessness of this image. previous Soviet bloc The black jacket and black "babushka" date back to a bleaker time in the history of Romania.
Phil Douglis04-Nov-2009 17:40
I did not see that movie, but this woman is typical of thousands who do this kind of heavy labor. As I noted, the image seems timeless.
Carol E Sandgren04-Nov-2009 04:13
She reminds me very much of the bird woman in the movie "Mary Poppins". I love how she is leaning right into your frame, as if ready to work right under your feet. Such a heavy job for a woman to do.
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