Brick Carriers, Mandalay, Myanmar, 2005 by Phil Douglis

Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty Four: The Workplace -- essence of a culture > Brick Carriers, Mandalay, Myanmar, 2005

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Brick Carriers, Mandalay, Myanmar, 2005

I watched as these women carefully balanced heavy loads of bricks on their heads while working on a construction project in Mandalay. They showed almost no emotion at all -- they behaved like robots, programmed to do the dirty heavy work. Balance, strength, determination, and patience are all part of this job. I tried to imply these attributes within this image.

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Phil Douglis		11-Jul-2005 01:21
I focus on the feelings of the people here, Zane. The bricks are context, the faces and hand gestures are the subject. The stacks of bricks on the heads are incongruous and symbolize great pressure. The image you link to this is an excellent portrait that tells its story in a different way than I use to tell the story here.

Zane Paxton		10-Jul-2005 21:32
Personally, I think that the image would have been more successful with more of a focus on the people and less on the pile of bricks in the foreground. The bricks by themselves are uninteresting. The impact on the people is what will make or break the image. A lower vantage point to express the sense of weight and to give more importance to the people would have been a plus. Here is an example of a very similar image that is very powerful: http://www.pbase.com/bvcuma/image/23898192 (Bruce's work is nothing short of amazing; very worth experiencing).

Phil Douglis		19-Mar-2005 02:45
Well put, Likyin, and thanks.

Guest		19-Mar-2005 02:40
Let's have HÖLDERLIN's poem: ... Full of merit, yet poetically, man Dwells on this earth.

Phil Douglis		18-Mar-2005 21:54
Yes, Likyin, it was astonishing to me as well. I did not notice the role that the face paint plays here -- it is so common in Burma that one can easily lose sight of its incongruous meaning in certain situations. Your conclusion that women still want to look beautiful even when doing a dirty job is fascinating.

Guest		18-Mar-2005 09:06
I have to say it's astonishing, no matter for man or woman, to balance these needs skills! More surprisingly, although we saw this job as heavy and dirty, I found that they both have the traditional face-painting! They are trying to stay the most elegant as they can even in such a situation! The whole experience for them is not as simple as for man, who usually take this as sheer labor. Woman holds beautiful fantasy no matter how hard this earthy life is.

Phil Douglis		12-Mar-2005 01:07
That's what this image is all about, V -- in Burma, the concept of man's work or woman's work is not as defined as it is here. Whoever gets less money for it, gets the work. Since women are historically underpaid in this society, they get the jobs. And do they do them well.

Vanessa M		11-Mar-2005 23:11
Who says a a woman can't do a man's work? This image blows the old cliche out of the water!

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