June 8 is the 50th anniversary of the iconic photograph known as the “Napalm Girl”, a black and white image that changed the course of the Vietnam War.
The recording was shot by Associated Press photographer Hyung Cong “Nick” Út, who was then 20 years old. Half a century later, the scene of little Phan Thi Kim Phúc running naked and crying into the camera lens is still impressive.
Now 59, she met with Út to talk about photography and war at a memorial event this week at the Fotografiska New York museum.
The story behind the ‘Napalm Girl’ record
Although Phan Thi Kim Phúc’s photo is known as “Napalm Girl”, a nickname created by the strong turmoil her image has created around the world, her real name is “Incident Napalm”.
in a recent article for Washington PostNick Tú remembers learning that on June 7, 1972, fighting was taking place in Trang Bang, a small village about 48 kilometers from Saigon. The area was occupied by North Vietnamese forces.
“I arrived at a village destroyed by days of airstrikes.
The villagers were so fed up with the constant fighting that they took refuge from their villages on the streets, under bridges, or wherever they could find calm.
By noon, I had the photos I thought I needed. As I was getting ready to leave, I saw a South Vietnamese soldier launch a yellow smoke grenade used as a target signal near a group of buildings.
I got my camera and a few seconds later I caught footage of an airplane dropping four napalm bombs on the village.”
As he approached the bombed site, he remembers seeing people fleeing napalm, a incendiary bomb made with flammable liquids based on jelly gasoline.
That’s when he heard a little girl scream: “Nongqua! Nong qua!”; “So hot! So hot!”.
“I looked through my viewfinder [da câmera] Leica and I saw a young woman taking off her clothes in flames and running towards me. I started taking pictures of him.”
The photographer helped by getting Kim Phúc and the other children in the footage—her brother, cousins, and neighbors—all in the AP van to the nearest hospital.
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Chari Larsson, Senior Lecturer in Art History at Griffith University in Australia, details in an article for the science communication website Speech How the photo captivates and mobilizes viewers 50 years later:
“In the foreground on the left is a child screaming in horror. On the right, two more children run, holding hands.
The viewer’s gaze moves restlessly in the photograph, seeking details. A photographer reloads the film onto his camera.
The soldiers, apparently unaware of their distress, walk haphazardly behind the children. The juxtaposition is striking and elevates the photograph’s emotional record: soldiers are expected to help and assist.
The image has a grainy texture very different from the smoothness of contemporary digital photography. Depth of field is cut off by the fluctuating smokescreen. Since there is no horizon to listen to, the gaze of the audience turns back to the girl.”
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‘Napalm Girl’ was barely published in the papers
Larsson explains that initially the photo of Nick Út was rejected by AP because of the girl’s nudity. At that time, frontal nudity was considered a violation of decency.
But the decision was overturned by Horst Faas, the agency’s chief photo editor in Vietnam, and the image was reproduced by newspapers around the world.
The story around the girl and other children in the iconic photo, informally known as the “Napalm Girl,” slowly began to emerge.
in the article for Washington PostThe photographer says Phan Thi suffered third-degree burns on 30% of her body.
“Once she was stable, she was transferred from Cu Chi to the children’s hospital in Saigon and then to the burns unit.
However, Kim Phuc’s injuries were not the only injuries he sustained in the attack. He lost two of his nephews and a brother was seriously injured.”
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The photojournalist also says that the hospital refused to accept him because of the number of soldiers arriving.
“I knew he was going to die if he didn’t get help right away. I showed them my press badge and said, ‘If one of these kids dies, I’ll let the whole world know.
So they let Kim Phuc in. I have never regretted my decision.”
from Vietnam to Ukraine
Professor Chari Larsson points out that the war in Vietnam was the first to be televised. Television crews documented the escape of young Kim Phuc, but Út’s static image acquired a bad reputation and was embedded in the collective memory.
“The photograph had an immediate and widespread impact. He has been featured in influential newspapers and magazines, including Life and Newsweek.
His place in photojournalism history was secured in 1973 when he won the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography and the World Press Photo.”
Fifty years later, society’s relationship with photography and wars has changed.
For the expert, “Napalm Girl” in 1972 became the defining image of the generation that captured the futility of the war in Vietnam.
What catches the world’s attention in 2022 is the war in Ukraine. “Perhaps it is too early in the conflict for a photograph to emerge as the iconic symbol of Ukraine’s resistance to Russian occupation,” he says.
For Nick Tú, seeing the horrors of war for himself provides a perspective few can experience.
“At the same time, amid the death and destruction of war, humanity’s resilience shines – and I am reminded of this every time I see a photo of Ukrainians supporting their compatriots at this difficult time.
With this optimism in my heart, I hope that when Russian soldiers find an innocent Ukrainian girl in need of help, they will feel the same impulse that I felt to lay down their arms and take care of a person.”
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source: Noticias
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