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Article: Photography and forgiveness.(Nick Ut's Vietnam Napalm)
- Article from:
- Queen's Quarterly
- Article date:
- December 22, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Queen's Quarterly. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WE FEEL her panic and terror as if it were our own. Nick Ut's jarring photograph Vietnam Napalm (1972) depicts a child, Kim Phuk, fleeing American bombs. When we look at this image, we can almost hear her visceral scream. The girl's exposed body, with nowhere to hide and nothing to protect it, is a powerful symbol of her innocence and the vulnerability of humanity as a whole--we are, all of us, born naked and are united by the precariousness of life.
Vietnam Napalm is the most famous photograph of the twentieth century. But why? There is no doubt that it is a good picture from a compositional standpoint. But its power comes from its ability to shock and awe. This ...