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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Nine: Composition -- putting it together > Koranic school, Fez, Morocco, 2006
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16-DEC-2006

Koranic school, Fez, Morocco, 2006

The Merdersa Bou Inania, a Koranic school built in 1350, still stands in the middle of Fez’ old city. It was first organized in the 10th century, becoming the world's first center of higher education. I abstract the school building by focusing on small details, making a point of its extreme age by stressing the plants incongruously growing out its roof tiles. I tie that detail together with a geometric composition, bringing the eye into the image from the upper right hand corner by using the roofline, with its tiles and plants, as a strong diagonal. The roof suddenly veers left at the end of the diagonal thrust. At that point, I carry the eye up and out of the image via a strong vertical segment of the building itself. The balance of the image itself is composed of rhythmically repetitive decorative embellishments common to traditional Islamic architecture.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/640s f/8.0 at 46.3mm iso100 full exif

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Phil Douglis18-Mar-2007 23:07
Thanks, Ceci, for your vision of the effects of time on this old school building. I found the grass very incongrous, and highly symbolic as well -- a mantle of ever-renewing life upon a base of slow decay.
Guest 18-Mar-2007 06:15
This picture has a strong Escher-like quality to it, I couldn't at first see the direction of any of the surfaces, which was fun and visually confusion. It's a wonderful trompe l'oeil and I love the colors, the richness of the green against all the chocolate and toffee browns. The plants are like sparse hair on a human head, and gives the roof an alarmed appearance. It's almost as though the building was collapsing, and various walls and roofs were sliding into one another. A most attractive, surprising and textured collision, indeed!
Phil Douglis17-Jan-2007 18:55
I enjoy your point, Tim -- the grass growing out of these roof tiles carries many symbols, among them those unproductive former students you mention. It could also symbolize the financial bind that educational institutions face. I saw the grass as a symbol of extreme age -- this school has been around so long -- it is more than 700 years old -- that things like this are no longer even noticed. In the face of time, what do a few blades of grass on the roof matter?
Tim May17-Jan-2007 17:06
As a retired teacher I must admit that the grass growing out of the tiles reminds me of some of my scholars who seemed to be growing grass rather than learning.
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