Review and thoughts of picture exercise (Kevin Carter)

 

This is the picture we were told to pen down our personal thoughts, we were then told do do research about the picture on the Web.

    Kevin Carter took this photograph while he was in Africa on a job to take picture of the famine. The starving child was trying to reach a feeding centre when a vulture had landed near the child, waiting for the child to die of starvation so it can eat the remains of the child's body. However, there was another theory that the parents of the child had left her behind briefly so they could collect the food faster. The picture was sold to the "New York's Times" and it received overwhelming responses, with many people contacting the newspaper on whether the child had survived.

  Due to this picture, Kevin Carter had received one of the most prestigious awards, the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography which made him famous. However, due to much criticism from the public, claiming that he did not help the child and instead, took a photo of her to build reputation, he decided to commit suicide due to depression. Another reason for his suicide was because he saw too many disheartening and gloomy moments of others in his life, like depressing environments of disasters, and the example used here, which is starvation to such a terrible extent that it becomes fatal.  

  When we first saw this photograph, we didn't understand it as we had never seen or experienced anything like this before. However, after some research, we understood and felt horrified by the photograph. In a modernized society like Singapore, it is often difficult for us to grasp the concept of famine. We always have food ready right at our doorsteps when we are hungry, unlike those people living in famine where they have to travel long distances just for a packet of rice.

  

  In regards to whether or not Kevin Carter's actions were correct, we feel that the situation was beyond his control. First, his job prevents him from interacting with the people there and his colleagues discouraged him from helping the child as she might have a contagious disease. Even if he was able to help the child, he would not be able to provide food for the rest of the people affected by famine. By taking the photograph, Kevin was shedding light on the famine, making the public aware of the event and bringing help to those affected. Thus, we do not feel that Kevin deserved as much criticism as he did from this picture. 

  After looking at this photograph, we are able to truly understand the torment of hunger. Seeing the child in such a vulnerable state and the vulture overshadowing the child struck a chord in our hearts. We should appreciate the abundance of food we have in Singapore and not take it for granted. Food insecurity is still a problem around the world, and only together can we end it.

- Extra Information: 

When he suicided, he left a suicide note which wrote this : 

 “I am depressed … without phone … money for rent … money for child support … money for debts … money!!! … I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain … of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners … I have gone to join Ken [recently deceased colleague Ken Oosterbroek] if I am that lucky.”

  The vivid memories of the killing, corpses, anger and pain were the miserable and discouraging moments he personally saw, and even though he wanted to spread to the public about the inhumane actions that were happening at the other side of the world, he was flooded with criticism for not helping the girl and using her as an object to gain fame. Thus, he fell into depression and suicided. 

Sources: 

Picture: 

(http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/vulture-little-girl/)

Information: 

http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/vulture-little-girl/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Carter

http://paulagortazar.blogspot.sg/p/ethical-limits-in-documentary.html