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Vice media cambodia9/25/2023 ![]() Scars of the Khmer Rouge: How Cambodia is healing from a genocide (Photo credit should read CLAUDE JUVENAL/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Loughrey did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Ī woman cries next to a dead body, 17 April 1975 in Phnom Penh, after the Khmer Rouge enter the Cambodian capital and establish government of Democratic Kampuchea (DK). ![]() The minister is now calling on the artist “to immediately stop spreading these horrific images and specifically to take them off his website and out of public view.” The distorted photographs have needlessly once again traumatized the families and our nation.” However, in this case, the artist has clearly desecrated the memories of the dead and robbed the victims of the Khmer Rouge of their dignity. “We understand and respect artistic freedom. ![]() “The alteration of these photographs shows an utter insensitivity for the people who died, the families who have had to continue on without their loved ones, and historical truth itself,” Phoeurng Sackona, Cambodia’s minister of culture and fine arts, said in a statement to CNN Business on Monday. Khmer Rouge executioner 'Comrade Duch' who oversaw notorious torture prison dies age 77ĭespite the retraction, Cambodian authorities have strongly objected to the use of the images, after a government review found that several photographs were changed to add smiles. The original photos are displayed at the former high school and prison, now the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, which educates on the period in which at least 1.7 million people – around a quarter of the population – died from execution, starvation and forced labor as the Khmer Rouge set out to establish an agrarian utopia.Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, sits in the courtroom in Phnom Penh Friday. The story did not meet the editorial standards of VICE and has been removed,” the outlet said in a statement. “The article included photographs of Khmer Rouge victims that Loughrey manipulated beyond colorization. On Monday, Vice acknowledged its “error,” blamed a “failure of the editorial process” and said it would “investigate” what happened. “Minimizing the pain and trauma of our community from those who are not connected to the experience is not only revising and erasing history, it’s a violent act,” it added.Īn online petition was created asking Vice to remove the article from its website, which it appeared to do late Sunday. The National Cambodian Heritage Museum and Killing Fields Memorial said in a Facebook post that the alterations were “done without the consent of family members who lost loved ones in the prison, and with other Cambodian community organizations who are involved in this work.” Relatives of the victims and the general public in Cambodia, as well as internationally, also expressed their outrage, with some accusing the artist of falsifying history and Westernizing the subjects’ faces, while others questioned the historical accuracy of the colorization.Ī woman, identified as Lydia and who claimed to be the niece of one of the people in Loughrey’s photos, said on Twitter that unlike some photos, her relative’s expression had not been altered, “but the article tells a false story about my uncle.” The ministry said it had “never” been in communication with Loughrey, and asked Vice to take down the photographs, or else legal action would be taken. ![]() I think a lot of that has to do with nervousness.”Ĭambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts said in a statement Sunday that it “does not accept this kind of manipulation, and considers this work of Matt Loughrey to seriously affect the dignity of the victims, the reality of Cambodia’s history and in violation of the rights of the museum as the lawful owners and custodians of these photographs.” However, when Vice’s reporter asked what he made of the smiles, Loughrey said “women tended to have a smile on their face more so than the men. Vice nor Loughrey made mention of the expressions being altered and the outlet did not show the originals. Irish photo restoration artist Matt Loughrey was interviewed about his colorization work by Vice, which published his altered photos, in which it appeared that not only had color been added to the originals, but smiles to the faces of some victims. Bangkok Desk, Apr 12 (EFE).- Cambodian authorities have condemned digitally altered photographs of Khmer Rouge victims published by news outlet Vice, saying their manipulation affects the dignity of the dead.ĭuring its 1975-1979 reign, the Khmer Rouge took black-and-white photographs of people it detained at its notorious S-21 prison and interrogation center, where at least 18,000 people were tortured and murdered.
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