Costs of Disagreement

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The Vulture and the Little Girl is a photo that captures the depths of the humanitarian crisis in Sudan during the 90s, when civil war and famine tore the country apart. The photo captures a child, now known to be a boy, trying to make his way to a UN aid station, collapsed on the trail. The photo managed to spark widespread support for Sudan and many rushed to donate to organizations that had operations there. The photo won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 1994, and four months later, the photographer, Kevin Carter killed himself. We can only guess as to his motives in taking his own life, but it is not difficult to see how his work and experiences in Sudan could’ve played a major part. To this day this photo stands as a testament to the tragedy of famine, and the trauma those who document it face.

Gassed is a haunting piece by John Sargent, an artist commissioned by the British Government to make a painting documenting World War I. In 1919 it was voted picture of the year by the Royal Academy of Arts and it’s not hard to see why. It is a truly massive canvas and the figures depicted in it are nearly life size, at the time gas attacks were something you’d hear about in the news, something that was always happening “over there”. To see the costs these attacks bring with them so vividly was a shock to many. Of course there’s not just the parade of blinded soldiers, but in the background a game of soccer being played can be seen. A shocking juxtaposition from the corpses in the foreground. From it we can gather just how desensitized these soldiers were, just how normal, and present these mountains of corpses felt.

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