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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Sixteen: Story-telling street photography > Chain Gang, Brussels, Belgium, 2005
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07-JUN-2005

Chain Gang, Brussels, Belgium, 2005

At first glance, the scene seems surreal. Seven statues of a small naked boy relieving himself, are chained together outside of a souvenir shop. Yet it's all taken for granted in Brussels. Its civic identity has been tied to a statue known as the “Manneken Pis,” since the 17th century. The original, standing on a street corner only a few yards away from where I made this image, is just one foot high, and is prone to being stolen from time to time. To make sure these oversized souvenir replicas are not stolen, a merchant has created a chain gang in bronze and stone, a work of incongruous art in itself. They come in various sizes, finishes and materials and even face in different directions. They stand before a window filled with scores similar statues in smaller sizes. The shop has even constructed a special wooden ramp for these slaves to commerce. They do not come cheaply – two of them carry 60 Euro price tags. This is one of those street scenes that do not require much photographic expertise. I did not need to photographically interpret the subject, because the content is expressive in itself -- as street photography, symbolism, incongruity, and human values.

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Phil Douglis21-Aug-2006 23:04
Welcome, caveman lee -- team spirit, indeed! It's the fact that these statues are chained together as a team of urinating babies that makes this image so incongruously amusing.
caveman_lee21-Aug-2006 16:02
A nice shot. Great team spirit.
Phil Douglis04-Jul-2005 17:51
I am looking forward to seeing your version of such a scene, Mo.
monique jansen04-Jul-2005 07:24
I took virtually the same picture, but did not post it yet on my Brussels page, will do in the next few days, so you can see the differences and similarities
Phil Douglis04-Jul-2005 06:12
Thanks, Kal, for coming to these images with such imagination. That's really what expressive photography is all about, isn't it. The photographer creates an image that can act as a catalyst to the imagination of the viewer, but the viewer must do his or her part by allowing the imagination free reign, removing the blinders of pre-conceptions and expectations. Open minds see images more imaginatively than closed minds. Left brained people see images for what they are, while right brained people see them for what they mean. It's a wonderful thing, expressive photography. Everybody reads images as a mirror of their own experiences, attitudes, and context.
Kal Khogali04-Jul-2005 05:02
True Phil. "Best" is in the eye of the beholder I guess. You as the photographer offer each image as an expression of what you saw at the time, but we as viewers will meditate on them and find those that perhaps touch us, and we will all be touched in different ways. I do find it interesting that you have provided a great example here of what expressive photography is all about. The same subject matter, different context and as you say in the case of the other image different technique, generated a comletely different reaction from me. Proof if any, of the power of expressive photography.
Phil Douglis04-Jul-2005 00:55
Thanks, Kal, for this comment. I photographed the real Mannekin Pis as well, but tossed all of them. The replicas have much greater potential for incongruous and amusing expression because of the constantly variable contexts for them. As for the two that I have posted in my galleries, I have no interest in figuring out which is "best." I don't think we can measure the value of different images against each other unless they share a common objective and methodology. This image is an effective example of highly symbolic incongruity at work in street photography to express human values. As I mention below, this image is not my interpretation -- it's exactly as I found it. The image works because of what is happening in front of us, not because of how I chose to photograph it. The other Mannekin Pis image, which is in my incongruity gallery athttp://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/45577593, is an example of an interpretive image -- how and why I shot it had as much to do with making it succeed as incongruous surrealism as the bizarre subject itself. I don't try to compare the two images -- each succeeds in its own way, and each represents an entirely different kind of photographic approach.
Kal Khogali04-Jul-2005 00:25
Everone photographs the real Mannekin Pis while Phil finds other ways to capture the city. A chain gang of Mannekin Pis' woking on the "Chain Gang" of the tourism trade. They can not escape from their fate, but in that classic Laissez faire attitude of that statue, they "pee" with arrogance on the fate their captors have for them. I like the other image better because of it's surrealism (much mor incongruities), but this one made me smile to myself more.
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