Organic vs. Inorganic

First of all, this is a very striking photograph. In terms of showing the struggle of passers-by and citizens during war time, this photo succeeds. The subjects in the photo seem to be a family, moving their life or running away from their past life. There are many geometric shapes and lines (the wheelbarrow wheels, the handles or the wheelbarrow, the square bricks of the building's facade, and the lines created by the streets), which create a more raw feel to the photo. The contrast of the daylight and the shadows is stark, and creates a heavy contradiction in values. These make for a bleak photograph; everything is very black-and-white, all the geometric shapes are very hard with sharp corners and edges. The only thing that is not 'hard' in this picture are the people. It seems as if the photographer frames his or her photo with the subjects symmetrically, right in the middle of the action. These semi-organic shapes of people and their baggage seems thrown into this world of harsh, unforgiving corners. This mirrors what happens in war. There are the fighters and the 'innocent'. While the fighters are fighting each other for whatever purposes, the 'innocent' sometimes get caught in the middle. Organic shapes in a geometric world, struggling to keep peace and to keep alive.