Taken by Turkish photojournalist Nilüfer Demir, the powerful picture had a tragic Kevin Carter quality about it, and, while the horror behind it is great, you also know that the only way to stop it is to show the world what's going on. His family was trying to flee from Kobani to Europe, but, while they were attempting to reach Greece, he drowned together with his mother and his five-year-old brother. In the last few years, Italy has been at the forefront of huge and dramatic migrations, seeing constant flows of refugees arriving from Africa and Syria crossing the Mediterranean on dinghies and other unseaworthy vessels that often capsized, but other European countries are realising only now the extent of the drama, as people are arriving from alternative routes such as Greece, to continue their journey via Macedonia and Serbia to reach Hungary, Austria and Germany.Īs political leaders didn't seem to know what to do, one tragic image last week caused public outrage and convinced a few of them to change their hard line: the image showed the body of a drowned Syrian child, three-year old Aylan Kurdi, washed ashore and lying face down on a Turkish beach near the resort of Bodrum. This is the biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War. The power of the image haunted Carter, though, who, plagued with the moral dilemma the image had caused him - when do you stop taking photographs and start helping? - committed suicide.Īs we all know, there is a huge emergency at the moment in Europe as Syrian people are escaping the war in their country. Bought and printed by the New York Times the picture won him the Pulitzer Prize in 1994, generating more interest in raising money to stop hunger in Africa. He then chased the bird away and watched as the girl resumed her struggle. He crouched to photograph her as a vulture landed near her, but did not disturb the bird, taking the best possible image. In March 1993, he went to photograph the rebel movement in famine-stricken Sudan and saw a young girl trying to make her way to the feeding centre. Part of the so called 'Bang-Bang Club' together with colleagues Greg Marinovich and Ken Oosterbroek, Kevin Carter, worked for the Johannesburg Star. Yet, last week, the ghost of a well-known photojournalist suddenly re-emerged from history to haunt many of us. The fascinating history of photography includes historical images, dramatic shoots and iconic stylish portraits, at times embedded in our memories even when we may not remember the name of the photographer who took them. Photography is undoubtedly a powerful medium: it immediately expresses and communicates ideas, it summarises long stories in just one shot, and can be used for persuasion and propaganda as well.

Warped reality art