76 DECEMBER 2015^ http://www.asianphotographyindia.com
Kevin Carter
This South African photojournalist’s name comes to mind whenever war photography
is mentioned in even a casual conversation, as this name has become synonymous
with the genre of photography. His appalling images and his tragic death have both
impacted the photojournalism industry to a great extent. Kevin Carter was a member of the
so called ‘Bang Bang Club’ which was coined by a South African magazine. Four members,
namely Kevin Carter, Greg Marinovich, Ken Oosterbroek, and João Silva were primarily
associated with the name Bang Bang Club. Kevin Carter’s famous image of a famine ridden
child crouching and a vulture staring at the child had received both appreciation and criticism.
Kevin won the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. He lost his friend, and fellow Bang
Bang Club member, Oosterbroek, who was shot and killed by peacekeepers in Thokoza
Township, about 25 km east of Johannesburg. On 27 July 1994 Carter committed suicide by
taping one end of a hose to his pickup truck’s exhaust pipe and running the other end to the
driver’s side window. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning at the age of 33. His suicide
note echoes his mental state after years of covering conflict and social issues and goes on to
prove once again why conflict photography is one of the toughest professions of all time.
The note reads – “depressed... without phone... money for rent... money for
child support... money for debts... money!!!... I am haunted by the vivid memories of
killings and corpses and anger and pain... of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy
madmen, often police, of killer executioners... I have gone to join Ken if I am that lucky.”© Kevin Carter