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Short descriptions of 16 pictures
that made history

‘Che’, described as a ‘guerrilla hero’, appears in a
black beret with his face looking out, in a
photograph taken by Alberto Korda on
March 5, 1960. Guevara, 31 years old at that
time, was attending a funeral for victims of
an explosion at Coubre. The photo was
published seven years later.
The Art Institute of Maryland (USA) has
called it ‘the most famous photo and
graphic icon of the twentieth century’.
Indeed, this photograph has been
reproduced many times around the world
and is considered one of the ten greatest
photographic portraits of all time.
It is a universal symbol of rebellion for
human principles against social injustice.

Omayra Sanchez was a little girl who died during the
eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano, which
destroyed the town of Armero, Colombia, in
1985. Omayra was stuck for three days in the
mud, water, corpses of relatives and debris from
her home. She was 13 years old.
Rescuers found that it was impossible to save her
as they would have had to amputate her legs. The
other option was to use a pump-turbine to suck
the sticky mud. The only pump available was too
far away and unavailable.
Omayra was strong till the last moment of her
life. According to aid workers and journalists who
were with her for three days, she was thinking
about returning to school and passing exams.
Thanks to photographer Frank Fournier, the
image of Omayra travelled the world exposing the
indifference of the Colombian government to
ordinary, destitute Columbians (which has not
changed much today).
The photograph was published several months
after the young girl died. Many view this picture
of 1985 as the beginning of what we now call the
globalization of agony.

A picture taken by Javier Bauluz, a
Spanish photographer and winner of a
Pulitzer Prize, shows two Spanish
tourists on a beach looking at the
lifeless body of a clandestine boat
immigrant. The picture was part of a
report on the entry of illegal
immigrants through the shores of
Western Europe. It denounces
people’s indifference to the tragedies
of others. Following its publication in
La Vanguardia and the New York
Times, reviews and commentaries
poured into Spain.

On June 8, 1972, a US fighter jet bombed the
population of Trang Bang in Vietnam
with napalm. Kim Phuc was there with
her family. With her clothes on fire, the
nine year old girl ran away along with
other children. At one point, her clothes
burned out. This picture was shot, at that
moment, by the famous photographer
Nick Ut.
Kim stayed in hospital for 14 months. The
girl underwent 17 operations for skin
grafts. Anyone looking at this photograph
can see the intensity of the despair and
human suffering created by wars (still
raging in Afghanistan, Chechnya,
Columbia, Congo, Iraq, occupied
Palestine and Somalia), especially the
effects on children and women.
Today, Pham Thi Kim Phuc, the little girl
in the photo, is married with two
children. She lives in Canada where she
presides over the Kim Phuc Foundation
where the mission is to help child victims
of war. She is also an ambassador for
UNESCO.

‘The colonel killed the prisoner. I killed the
colonel with my camera,’ said Eddie
Adams, the war photographer who took
this snapshot. It shows the cold-
blooded assassination of a Vietcong
guerrilla on February 1, 1968, by the
police chief of Saigon. The Vietcong
hands were tied behind his back when
he was shot at close range.
Adams, who had been a correspondent
for 13 wars, won a Pulitzer Prize for this
picture. He was so emotionally affected
by the event that he changed his
profession.

Gharbat Gula was photographed when
she was 12 by photographer Steve
McCurry, in June 1984, in the
refugee camp of Nasir Bagh in
Pakistan during the insurrection
against the Soviet invasion. Her
portrait was featured on the cover
of National Geographic in June
1985 because of her expressive
face with green eyes. However, at
that time, nobody knew the name
of the girl.
The photographer spent 17 years
searching for the girl. He took
many trips to the region until, in
January 2002, he found her. She
was a 30 year old married woman
with three children. Finally he
discovered her name. Gharbat
Gula returned to Afghanistan in
1992 where she lives in a remote
village.
Nobody had ever taken a photo of
her before McCurry and she did
not know that her face had
become famous. The woman's
identity was confirmed at 99.9%
through facial recognition
technology used by the FBI and
especially by the comparison of
the two photographed irises.

‘Say goodbye to war’ was taken by Victor
Jorgensen in Times Square, New York
City, on August 14, 1945. We can see a
US marine passionately kissing a
nurse. Contrary to popular belief,
these two characters were not
partners but passers-by who had just
met there.
The photograph, an icon, is seen as
the reflection of the excitement and
passion of returning home (sweet
home) after a long absence, and the
joy felt at the end of war.

The ‘Unknown Rebel’ was the nickname given to
an anonymous man who became internationally
famous for being photographed standing before a
line of tanks during the Tiananmen Square
uprising of 1989 in China. The photo was taken
by Jeff Widener. The man seems to be stopping
the advance of the tanks and the image has been
around the world.
In China, the picture was used by the
government as a symbol of compassion the
soldiers of the People's Liberation Army felt
towards the Chinese people and their desire to
protect them. Despite orders to advance, the tank
driver refused to do so.

Thich Quang Duc was born in 1897. He
was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk
(also called a bonze) who burned
himself to death on a busy street in
Saigon on June 11, 1963. His act of
sacrifice, which was repeated by
other monks, was memorable. It was
witnessed by David Halberstam. As
his body burned, the monk remained
motionless. He did not cry. He did
not even make a sound.
Thich Quang Duc was protesting
against the way the US-backed
administration of South Vietnam
was manipulating Buddhism to
further its goals. After his death, his
body was cremated according to
Buddhist tradition. During the
cremation, his heart remained intact.
Thich was considered a saint and his
heart was kept as a relic at the
Reserve Bank of Vietnam.
This was the origin of the term ‘self-
immolation’, which, contrary to what
people think, is not about
committing suicide but about
sacrificing oneself –a form of
political protest.

The brilliant Sudanese photographer Kevin
Carter won the Pulitzer Prize with a
photograph taken in a small village in
Sudan in the region of Ayod. The picture
has toured the world. It shows a hopeless
little girl, totally emaciated, lying on the
floor, exhausted by hunger and dying,
while in the background, the black
silhouette of a vulture watching and
waiting for her death. Four months later,
overwhelmed by guilt and driven by a
strong dependence on drugs, Kevin Carter
committed suicide.
The destitution shown in the photograph is
the direct result of the continuous
meddling of Western foreign powers in
Sudan in order to grab its riches. As a
result of this and the inefficiency and
corruption of the local government,
Sudanese die of starvation in a country
considered to be the richest in Africa in
terms of agriculture.

‘The Falling Man’ is the title of a photograph
taken by Richard Drew on September 11,
2001, during the attacks against the twin
towers of the World Trade Center at
9:41:15 in the morning. In the picture we
can see a man falling from the towers. By
jumping he is most likely choosing a rapid
and violent death instead of slowly dying
of burns and smoke.
The publication of this document shortly
after the attacks angered some sections of
the American public. Most media refused
to include this picture in their vehicles,
preferring to show pictures depicting acts
of heroism and sacrifice. Some people are
attempting to discover the identity of the
falling man.
The picture depicts the weakness and
fragility of man.

During an uprising in Puerto Cabello in
Carabobo State, Venezuela, in 1962 –
an episode known as the Porteñazo –
the ruling dictatorship violently
suppressed the insurgents. The
picture depicts Padre Luis Maria
Padilla holding a wounded soldier in
his arms. While the padre was trying
to lift him up the soldier could hardly
say ‘my father help me’ before being
shot again. This photo toured the
world and was the sole recipient of
the Pulitzer Prize World Press Photo.
The tragic death of this unlucky man
proves that government soldiers (and
insurgents alike) always pay the
heavy price, not the ruling class.

This photograph by Luiz Vasconcelos
earned an award in the Singles of
the World Press Photo in the
General News category in 2009. It
depicts a woman with her child
trying to resist eviction by riot
police on the outskirts of Manaus
in the Brazilian Amazon and
illustrates the struggle of landless
Indian farmers against white
Creole landowners. It is scary to
view this image and to think of
family and children.
The struggle of landless farmers

Rachel Aliene Corrie was an American
member of the International Solidarity
Movement (ISM). She was born on
April 10, 1979, and murdered on
March 16, 2003. She was crushed to
death in the Gaza Strip by an Israeli
Army bulldozer, while she was
kneeling in front of a local
Palestinian's home, thus acting as a
human shield, attempting to prevent
Israeli Occupation Forces from
demolishing the home.
The pictures depict her before and
after her cold-blooded murder. The
spokesman for the Israeli Occupation
Army stated that the death was due to
the restricted angle of view of the
Caterpillar D9 bulldozer driver, while
ISM eyewitnesses said ‘there was
nothing to obscure the driver's view’.
A student at the Evergreen State
College, Rachel had taken a year off
and travelled to the Gaza Strip to
understand the truth of the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict, which is often
covered up. This young 24 year old
martyr proves that the naturally
rebellious spirit of the ordinary
American people against the forces of
evil is alive and well.
Under the claws of the bulldozer

A Palestinian child opposing an
Israeli Army Occupation tank
in Palestine – picture taken in
the 1990s in the Occupied West
Bank by an unknown
photographer
This photograph shows the
fierce resistance of an entire
population, devoid of any
support, facing a brutal
occupation of their country. It
is said that Palestine is
probably the only country in
the 21st century still being
directly colonized. As such it
has become the largest open air
prison in the world ever since
its occupation by Israeli
settlers in 1948.
The child resisting the tank

Some people believe in God, others not, but we must think and think
again how small we are before the forces of nature. This photo was taken
on the coast of Sumatra Island in Indonesia during an overwhelming
tsunami, with waves measuring up to 20m in height. The picture was
found a month and a half later in a digital camera.
Whoever took this picture, no doubt, ceased to exist a few seconds after
pressing the trigger of the small machine.

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