Jenny Tran- Contemporary Photojournalism

K E V I N    C A R T E R

B I O G R A P H Y

Kevin Carter (September 13, 1960-July 27, 1994) was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and his family was the only middle class white in the neighborhood. When he was young, he questioned his father about why the black people were arrested by the police and he got angry at the way blacks were treated. In 1976, Carter studied pharmacy but dropped it out and then recruited into the South African Defense Force. During his military service, he was beaten up by some Afrikaans-speaking soldiers after he tried to defend a black waiter in the mess hall. Carter was suffering from depression so he tried to kill himself by taking many sleeping pills, painkillers and rat poison but fortunately he survived. After witnessing the Church Street bombing killing 19 people in Pretoria in 1983, Carter decided to become a photographer to show people what was happening in the world. He started as a sports photographer but then wanted to use photography to uncover the cruelty of South African government, the violent repression, the famine and the protest. Carter was a member of the Bang Band Club which was a group of photojournalists that ran to shoot in the dangerous places. Kevin Carter was committed suicide at the age of 33 due to carbon-monoxide poisoning in Johannesburg. He left a note and explained that, “I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and angers and fears.” Additionally, he wrote that “The pain of life overrides the joy to the point that joy does not exist.”

Photographer Rebecca Hearfield taking a picture of Kevin Carter.

W  O  R  K

In March 1993, Kevin Carter and Joao Silva flew to Sudan to record the famine stricken that land. After observing and taking photos of masses of people dying of hunger in the village of Ayod, Carter walked to the open bush where he saw an emancipated African infant struggling and collapsing on the way toward the feeding center. As Carter started shooting the child, there was a vulture landed right behind her. After 20 minutes waiting, he scared the creature away and watch the little girl continued crawling towards the center. On March 26 of 1993, the New York Times ran the photo and quickly drew attention of the readers overnight. The photograph did not only become an international icon of Africa’s suffering but also one of the most controversial photographs in the history of photojournalism. There were numerous people concerning and asking about the life of the poor child and they also criticized Carter for not helping her. On April 12 of 1994, Carter was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his photo but at the same time he had been attacked by a fierce criticism. In his defense, Carter reported that he had advised not to touch the famine victims because of the disease.

During his career, Carter witnessed countless tragedies and murders from beatings, stabbings, shootings of the victims. Thus, Carter was suffering from his emotional pain and everyday he had to use cocaine and other drugs to cope with the horrors. After receiving the intense reactions from the world on his photograph, Carter was even depressed more and he always felt guilty that he could not save anyone because he photographed them as they were killed. Most of his photos are black and white and several of them have earth tone and vintage look to show the horror of the tragedies. He documented on the sickening treatment of blacks by whites, the heated relationship between black ethnic groups such as Xhosas and Zulus. Thus, Carter’s photos are very depressing and haunting that expressing the dark side of the world. Reedwaan Vally, Carter’s friend, says that “You could see Kevin sink into a dark fugue.” Carter was drown deeply in sadness and pain until the point that he did not know what to do in his life. He could never be able to recover from all the shocking scenes that he saw and even he won the Pulitzer Prize, it could not help lighten his life.

Personally, I think Kevin Carter is a hero. I really admire his courage and his sacrifice when he had to go to dangerous place and take photos. I feel like we sometimes do not pay much attention on what is happening around us and we do not really care about the world. Thus, we do not know how difficult and painful that other people have to deal everyday in their lives. Carter’s photos make me pause for awhile and think about other people’s life and their tragedies. It makes me feel guilty that I was so heartless before and it also reminds me to live as a better person and treasure what I have.