Madonna Diptych

Experiments with composition

Left: My photoshopped version of what I think the
Madonna family portrait should look like.
Right: Original photograph with Lourdes,
Madonna, Rocco and the adopted David

Madonna's adoption of a young girl from Malawi has been rejected by the Malawi judge overseeing the case. The reason is that an adoptive parent has to live in the country for 18-24 months. This requirement was waived for her previous adoption of young David. I think this case will also go through, and that the judge is just making temporary fuss since people are talking about "child trafficking" and "stealing" children.

I came across this photograph (on the right) of her three children, and thought something was amiss. Here is what I came up with.

The photographer has grouped them in a pyramid - which is a classic painting structure used in many religious paintings showing important subjects on top.

But David's addition in the photograph changes the structure from a pyramid to a spiral, which pulls the image down to David instead of up towards Madonna (the mother.) David's color is also distracting. Even though it could have enhanced the overall contrast, what it does is make Rocco look too sallow, especially with Rocco's gray shirt obviously used to make him blend in better with David. Rocco also looks distanced from Madonna and Lourdes, in his gray shirt. He ends up not blending in with anyone, not with David, and not with his mother and sister.

David's presence thus becomes distracting, making the image look too busy, and diverting us from the pyramidal shape that would put Madonna in the center. There are also many negative metaphors for a downward spiral.

There is also something mysterious about the black section in the photoshopped version, making the three (or maybe just the two children) look as though they are regenerating out of some mystical center.

So, the photograph works better without David.

As I've always said, pictures never lie (or at least they reveal some deep-seated truths). In this case, David would have been infinitely better off in his homeland of Malawi, instead of trying to fit in the world that Madonna is trying to forge for him.

He doesn't belong in her family. He doesn't belong in her country.