From Phil Douglis' Gallery 28 entitled "Using symbols and Metaphors to Express Meaning." Concerning the above photo Phil wrote the following:Keane Wonder Mine, Death Valley National Park, California, 2007
The Keane Wonder Mine produced a million dollars worth of gold from 1903-1916. Today, it is a Death Valley ruin, marked by rusted metal, cracked foundations and rotting wood. I saw an opportunity to make a symbolic image out of the remains of a fence post on its perimeter. It resembles a fallen crucifix, and made me think of the famous “Cross of Gold” speech by William Jennings Bryan at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Bryan, who wanted a US monetary system based on silver rather than gold, warned the convention “not to crucify mankind on a cross of gold.” And so I symbolize the ruins of 100-year-old gold mine with what appears to be a fallen crucifix. I give it context by photographing it upon a pile of the very rocks from which gold was once mined, and contrasting its forlorn profile to the promise of a growing plant in the foreground.
