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world press photo exhibition
ryan m. kelly


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this photo by John FitzGerald

Examining/contemplating Ryan M. Kelly's photo of the car attack in Charlottesville, VA, that killed Heather Heyer and injured 19 others.

World Press Photo Exhibition, Toronto. This exhibition is being seen in about a hundred cities this year. Several are open at the moment with more to come. Here's a list:
www.worldpressphoto.org/exhibitions

I am of course claiming no rights in Kelly's photograph.

Denis Croissant, Ulrich John, Aschi "Freestone", tiabunna and 3 other people have particularly liked this photo


Latest comments - All (12)
 John FitzGerald
John FitzGerald club has replied
An interesting question, Keith. James Alex Fields Jr. is the criminal to me, though -- he should have been thinking about that before he drove his car into the crowd at speed. There wouldn't be any photograph to bother the families and friends if he'd acted like a compassionate human being. And of course there wouldn't be dead and injured people.

To me there is a public interest in demonstrating the enormity of the atrocity. Of course, I can't expect you to assign the same priority to that that I do. I am perhaps affected by the trial here in Canada of Gerald Stanley for the killing of Colten Boushie. There were no credible witnesses to the attack, and a photograph would have been invaluable. The RCMP didn't bother to take crime scene photographs, either, till all the evidence had been washed away by rain.

Anyway, I am quite aware that I may be in error here and you in the right.

Kelly himself cannot look at this photo, by the way. Luckily he moved to a non-photographic job the next day.
6 years ago.
 Keith Burton
Keith Burton club has replied
Thanks for your well considered reply John. I have no problem with the photo itself (or with you for taking this shot), rather the way it has been displayed publicly like this. I can see the value of it from an evidential point of view...........showing it at an exhibition seems a touch unseemly.

I don't think it's as simple as right or wrong...................but it certainly thought provoking (which is part of why I love photography so much).
6 years ago. Edited 6 years ago.
 John FitzGerald
John FitzGerald club has replied
This was shown in an enclosure, Keith, with a prominent warning about the subject matter of the photos in it, which I think was a good idea. The photos in the enclosure (a fixture of the exhibition) are always eye-opening.
6 years ago.
 John Sheldon
John Sheldon club
Sarah P mentions the young people. When I was a child, late 1950s, I was immensely shocked, made to feel ill, by the 'death of Nancy' in a BBC serialisation of Oliver Twist. I am not convinced that a youngster of that age today in the UK would be so moved. It really is necessary to remind people of what violence does and means. I was pleased recently when my 6 year old grandson asked me why characters in computer games don't stay dead like they would in real life ....
6 years ago.
 John FitzGerald
John FitzGerald club has replied
I would be pleased, too, John. In many ways it's a struggle for all of us to stay in touch with what's really happening in a world of make-believe. Your grandson's off to a good start.

A look at this photo would be a salutary experience for many, I'm sure. As I mentioned to Keith, Ryan Kelly himself cannot look at this picture. It's a depiction of violence stripped of all the heroism and romanticizing with which it's usually depicted.
6 years ago.

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