Remembering Kevin Carter

He ventured into the dark alleys of life capturing images which no one ever had seen before. Or who would have wanted to face those sickening truths which were least appealing to human eyes? His pictures pierced our heart, splitting it wide open letting out our anguish, pain, disgust or whatever emotions that you’ve never known before… emotions that were not familiar to the comfort zone where you, I and millions of others have been lingering for long. 16 years have passed since Kevin Carter – the lensman behind the famous Starving Child with Vulture photograph left this world. The disheartening picture questioned the ethics of photo journalism, which is debated even today.
As you look at the picture, what comes to your mind? Shock, disbelief, pain, anguish…and eventually you will be left behind with a disturbed mind stifled by numerous thoughts. I’m not denying that some of us will be left with a disdain for the man who captured this image on frame. I don’t remember when exactly I saw this picture for the first time. This photograph first appeared in NY Times in 1993. Carter was in Sudan to photograph the rebel movement in famine-stricken Sudan. While taking the shots of famine victims, he saw this little girl crawling all the way to the feeding centre. As he adjusted the frame for her, a vulture approached. Carter himself later said that he waited for the vulture to spread its wings, but it didn’t happen, and so he chased the vulture away after taking the shot. Funds came pouring in to Sudan and people from all over the world wanted to know what eventually happened to the little girl, something Carter did not have any answer for. Though the photograph earned Carter a Pulitzer Prize, he came under severe criticism for abandoning the child. A Florida-based news paper described him as:
“The man adjusting his lens to take just the right frame of her suffering, might just as well be a predator, another vulture on the scene.”
Carter’s colleague had another version to tell. He said the child was just a few steps behind her parents who were waiting for the supplies. He remembers Carter breaking down after taking the snap. He was depressed afterward, and kept saying he wanted to hug his daughter. Who would have known the emotions that he underwent then? He too was a human being, but the same time it was his job to let people know about what was happening around them.
A year after that, Carter committed suicide unable to cope with depression. Even after his death, the picture continued creating ripples, featuring in newspapers across the world and that’s how I stumbled upon it. Let me admit that even my immediate reaction was anger at the person who took the snap. I was vexed, boiling with ire over the photographer. Though I felt bad over his death, I was too young then to understand depression. I left it there, or did I? It kept recurring, reminding me of Carter. But then, the wrath gave way to doubts, and subsequently to guilt as I realised I have no right to blame someone for not doing the right thing when I fail to justify myself often.
Kevin Carter was raised in Johannesburg witnessing the brutal apartheid regime. In spite of being white, he always questioned it, and an angry Kevin used to have arguments with his parents asking why they couldn’t do something about all the atrocities blacks had to face in his homeland. May be he found the answer in photography. For Carter, photography was a calling, and that was his medium to let the world know about the atrocities happening in Africa where he grew up. As the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words” – and no art can be as effective as photography when it comes to evoking human sympathy.
Was Carter doing the right thing while he took that snap? At times it’s difficult to define things from a ‘black & white’ perspective as there is no such thing as absolute right or wrong. Of course he could have helped that little girl, but Carter was a disturbed man. He was not taking pictures with the same mentality of a fashion photographer. The things which he witnessed were unpleasant truths, and those images kept haunting him like a bitter nightmare. As a man, he too was plagued by self-doubts and fears. The amount of suffering he’d seen was bitter and turbulent unlike a fairytale. This made him a depressed boy and at 16, he tried to kill himself by swallowing pills. All this explains how disturbed Carter was in his later life.
I’m unable to draw a distinct line here. But Carter can be pardoned, given the fact that the images he captured did make the world open its eyes. The world is still suffering, but at least we are not blind to that. And Carter made us realise that the harsher realities of life are indeed the repercussions of our apathy and negligence.
Can Kevin Carter be pardoned? Was he a brilliant photographer or just another wounded soul chained by the haunting thoughts of endless misery? Tell us