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Newspapers have, for some time, used the 'breakfast table' rule as a litmus test for their photographic content. If a picture would offend or disgust readers as they sat down to read the paper over breakfast, then papers opt not to publish it. When that rule is broken, it's generally for good reason, to bring readers a new awareness of an issue worlds away, to show them something they wouldn't see from their front porch.
Kevin Carter captured this image in 1993 when he photographed a starving Sudanese child inching towards relief, curled tightly into a ball as a vulture perches in the background, ready for a meal. This image won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography and became an iconic image against war and famine in Sudan. The photograph is beautiful, well composed with the tension and drama of the child's fate in clear focus.
But the image defies viewers. After all, it seems almost a sin to appreciate the artistry of a photo that depicts a starving child. When the New York Times published the picture, Carter received criticism worldwide, despite the flood of aid that came to the region as a direct result of that photograph.
For critics, the only truth the picture showed was that a photographer capitalized on a tragic situation. The photo did not show that the child was mere yards from the food bank, that after taking the photo, Carter was reduced to taking refuge under a tree, doing nothing more than "smoking cigarettes and crying." [1] The photo could not show the countless others surrounding this child, in that village, that nation, that suffer the same plight. Carter was powerless to carry them all to safety. All he could do was take the shot, and send it back to the breakfast tables of millions of unassuming others who had no idea what this suffering looks like.
We know it's important to connect a name to a face, a setting to a story. Photojournalists do this by entering treacherous situations where some of the deepest abuses of human rights are taking place. In support of this effort, there are many regional and international awards and showcases of the work of those photographers who take pictures of great substance, despite the uncomfortable nature of the subject. These types of photos, as beautiful as they can be, are difficult to look at.
As hard as it is to look at these pictures, witnessing the events and standing by to photograph them takes a personal toll of even greater proportions. For Kevin Carter, it was too much. His suicide note, penned shortly before his death a month after being awarded the Pulitzer, read in part, "I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings & corpses & anger & pain ... of starving or wounded children..." [2] So many images depicting global human rights issues break the breakfast table rule, but they still deserve a seat at the table. Sometimes we need an image to make us lose our appetite."
Supporting art and photography that expose human rights violations, Zamaana's efforts are dedicated to upholding and extending the mission. Zamaana blends art with the support for human rights, using proceeds from sales as microloans for impoverished entrepreneurs. Visit us at zamaana.com, or find us on Facebook and Twitter @Zamaana.
1. [Online] http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/29/world/kevin-carter-a-pulitzer-winner-for-sudan-photo-is-dead-at-33.html
2. [Online] http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,165071,00.html
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