Luminous Landscape Forum
The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: seamus finn on May 17, 2012, 10:19:54 am
-
The man is protesting outside the Town Hall in Plaza St. Jaume, Barcelona. His message is bizarre. It seems to says: "Disobedient Attic. Without a Law to Enforce, They Don't Fix the Attic".
What does it mean? Is it a metaphor? What's in the briefcase?
He is being studiously ignored by a man in a suit but under observation by two uniformed representatives of the state. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Between the suited man and the protester, what could be interpreted as two giant paperclips adhere to the pillars – a symbol of bureaucracy the world over, as if underlining the futility of fighting City Hall.
-
A great shot, Seamus. I started cracking up when I saw it in its small version and when I clicked on it and got a look at the complete thing I was holding my sides. Bravo!
-
Between the suited man and the protester, what could be interpreted as two giant paperclips adhere to the pillars – a symbol of bureaucracy the world over, as if underlining the futility of fighting City Hall.
Strange how we sometimes pick up on the same vibe within a different tune; this was shot here in Spain (Mallorca) and those pesky
clips show themselves again: must be a Spanish thing, though yours might not even be willing to accept that they are, indeed, Spanish. Come to think of it, the ones I saw might not be local after all, but even if they are, I suppose they probably don't feel Spanish either.
You know, like the Welsh or the Scots re. English... ?
Rob C
-
You know, like the Welsh or the Scots re. English... ?
Rob C
I know very well, Rob - try carrying Irish history on your back in that context!
Re my protest guy above, my son who lives in Barcelona and to whom I am indebted for the translation, suggests: 'Possibly, he has a gripe against the people who live on the top floor of his building.'
-
Seamus
This is great, a fun shot. It is also quite surreal in an odd sort of way.
Nice one!
John
-
I know very well, Rob - try carrying Irish history on your back in that context!Re my protest guy above, my son who lives in Barcelona and to whom I am indebted for the translation, suggests: 'Possibly, he has a gripe against the people who live on the top floor of his building.'
I know, but I was diplomatically trying to avoid that ground!
But then I don't feel I belong to anywhere in particular either, living here this long; I expect I'm closer to the paper clips than I had first imagined. For some years now I've believed myself to be in a sort of permanent state of 'in transit' from somewhere I don't know any longer to somewhere I've never yet been.
Maybe the stay-at-homes have it best.
;-)
Rob C
-
I hope they fix his "attic".
-
I don't feel I belong to anywhere in particular either, living here this long
A citizen of the world - that's what you are.
-
I've believed myself to be in a sort of permanent state of 'in transit' from somewhere I don't know any longer to somewhere I've never yet been.
Isn't that just what life is?
Cheers,
W
-
Do you think we could start a site for the Lost Peoples of the World?
I suspect that quite a few folks I know would sign on straightaway. I wonder how many of them would be snappers - I'd guess the majority...
Rob C
-
Fabulous image.
This one could even go on to cult status.
Regards
Tony Jay
-
Pulitzer price material:
The common man down to the ground because of mistakes made by suits at the bank. The latter protected by the law, but not facing the consequences, not facing his moral imperative, instead bargaining with the law, with a duality in the latter because they are themselves common men.
Eerie symbolism in the hand of the guard btw…
-
Pulitzer price material:
The common man down to the ground because of mistakes made by suits at the bank. The latter protected by the law, but not facing the consequences, not facing his moral imperative, instead bargaining with the law, with a duality in the latter because they are themselves common men.
Eerie symbolism in the hand of the guard btw…
Wow, I'm amazed you got all of that from the photo. To me it looks like a guy who's a few beers short of a 6-pack and forgot to take his medication that day.
-
Exactly, Pop. That's one of the reasons it's so stunning. Nothing complicated about it, just a nut rattling around in his box.
-
Let's concentrate on the man's right to be there rather than what he's protesting about. Any way you look at it, he represents peaceful protest. That's his role in this image. Just because his text doesn't read DON'T BAIL OUT THE BANKS or PUT AN END TO WALL STREET GREED or some such is irrelevant.
-
Let's concentrate on the man's right to be there rather than what he's protesting about. Any way you look at it, he represents peaceful protest. That's his role in this image. Just because his text doesn't read DON'T BAIL OUT THE BANKS or PUT AN END TO WALL STREET GREED or some such is irrelevant.
I don't think anyone is suggesting that he doesn't have a right to be there. But are you sure he's even protesting?
-
But are you sure he's even protesting?
I don't know what he's doing. Maybe he's hanging around there waiting for Godot.
-
I don't know what he's doing. Maybe he's hanging around there waiting for Godot.
In any case, I think it's a well composed street shot.
-
Perhaps his name is Mr. Krapp and he's indulging a taste for The Theatre of the Absurd.
-
I don't know what he's doing. Maybe he's hanging around there waiting for Godot.
Guess he's been hanging about for quite a long time, then.
Poor chap.
Rob C
-
Just some context info:
Here in Spain, when someone cannot pay for hist mortgage, the property is seized and auctioned; then, the money obtained goes first to the bank, to cover what was still unpaid, and the rest to the owner. However, if the property cannot be sold for an amount greater than the debt (as almost always happens nowadays), then the property goes to the bank, and the debtor still has to pay most of the debt.
There was some recent "recommendation" from the government to the banks to "ask" them to cancel the debt under certain circumstances (like the debtor being unemployed, for example, if I recall correctly). What this man is asking for is to make that "recommendation" an "obligation".
Both policemen at the background wear the Catalonia's police uniform, not the Barcelona's police uniform; so the building behind them must be the Catalonia's Parliament, not the City Hall. Easy to mix the buildings, as they face each other.
-
Interesting explanation, Eduardo.
That's the sort of thing (our non-Spaniard interpretations of the image) that underlines the dangers of taking positions on someone else's fights. As with so damned much, we don't really always know why we take to the streets and demonstrate, other than that our friends are doing so too. (I never take to those streets, of course, because I seldom know much about anything that's going on anymore; I'm just too honest to pretend that I do.)
If you think about Iraq in any serious way, I imagine that hindsight would suggest we'd have been far, far better keeping out of it and not confusing one terrorist faction with another. Macho responses seldom solve anything but always fill Emergency wards. Is the world a better place since Saddy left it? I wonder if many would think so; will Syria turn out better if we get involved? Has/will Afghanistan? Maybe if we just left all those cultures alone to run their affairs as they have for centuries, stopped trying to find diversionary demons in other, non-our own situations, we'd be better off than we seem to be right now. Political systems that have evolved in the 'west' have so evolved for their own specific situational reasons - those are not universal so why assume the rest of the world wants or even needs to embrace the same set of rules or thought processes?
I imagine that had we left those peoples firmly alone, we'd have all the affordable oil, petrol and gas that we need: why would it be otherwise when trade has always been a two-way street that flourishes only when both parties feel they get value for money?
You mess with people, they inevitably mess back.
Long way from Barcelona... or is it?
Rob C
-
Interesting thoughts Rob.
Luckily, I feel that in Syria, and other Middle East countries, currently, the motivation for change seems to originate in-house.
The Syrian government deserves condemnation but their actions certainly call into question their legitimacy in the eyes of their own people.
If the groundswell for change is big enough the Syrian government will not be able to resist it.
Sadly a lot more people will die in the interim.
As in Egypt and Libya each will have to work things out for themselves - the results almost certainly will not equate to politics a la a Westminster parliamentary system of representational politics.
The best thing for the western democracies is to keep the soldiers out however only time will tell.
Regards
Tony Jay
-
Both policemen at the background wear the Catalonia's police uniform, not the Barcelona's police uniform; so the building behind them must be the Catalonia's Parliament, not the City Hall. Easy to mix the buildings, as they face each other.
I think you are correct, Eduardo. There were two similar civic buildings in the same square so I may have confused them. Thanks for the context. In any event, I think it validates my man powerfully and vindicates the theme 'you can't beat City Hall'.
Right now, there must be hundreds of thousands of people just like him all over crisis-stricken Europe - and certainly, very many in his shoes here in Ireland.