The Atrocity of Representing Atrocity - Watching Kevin Carter's 'Struggling Girl'
Authors
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Merlijn Geurts
n/a
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58519/aesthinv.v1i1.12001Keywords:
Ariella Azoulay, Kevin Carter, Atrocity photographyAbstract
Taking Kevin Carter's famous photograph of a Sudanese 'Struggling Girl' as an example, this article shows by criticizing the work of photography scholar Ariella Azoulay who argues for an ethic, reparative spectatorship that focuses on the social encounters behind the photograph, how discussions about atrocity photography often result in moral debates: discussions that center around the social relations behind photography and blame the photographer, but do not take into account and criticize the photographic representation of the atrocity. By giving an overview of the afterlife of Carter's photograph, the articles shows how such a 'social' focus on photography, easily reaffirms the social inequalities that lies within the practices of atrocity photography.
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