Kevin Carter

Kevin Carter

South African photojournalist, Pulitzer Prize winner. He was a member of a group of photographers who called themselves the "Bang-Bang Club" and worked in South Africa in the early 1990s.
Date of Birth: 13.09.1960
Country: South Africa

Content:
  1. Biography of Kevin Carter
  2. The Iconic Photograph
  3. Impact of Sudan Trip
  4. Controversy and Similar Images
  5. Tragic Death

Biography of Kevin Carter

Kevin Carter was a South African photojournalist and Pulitzer Prize winner. He was a member of the group of photographers known as the "Bang-Bang Club" who worked in South Africa in the early 1990s.

The Iconic Photograph

Carter gained widespread recognition for his photograph taken on March 25, 1993, in Sudan. The image captured a starving girl with a vulture perched nearby, waiting for her death. This photograph earned Carter the Pulitzer Prize and was published by the "New York Times," shocking the public. However, Carter himself became the target of media attacks, accusing him of cruelty and inhumanity.

Impact of Sudan Trip

According to João Silva, a former member of the "Bang-Bang Club" and a war photographer, Carter was deeply shocked by the mass starvation he witnessed during his trip to Sudan. The parents of the photographed girl were unloading a plane with humanitarian aid and momentarily left their exhausted child alone. It was during this time that the vulture landed near the girl. To capture both the child and the vulture in focus, Carter approached slowly, trying not to scare away the bird, and took a series of photographs from a distance of about 10 meters. He then chased away the vulture.

Controversy and Similar Images

Two Spanish photographers, José María Luis Arenzana and Luis Davilla, unknowingly captured similar images in the same location without knowledge of Carter's photograph. They reported that it was not difficult to do so, as vultures were common in the area, and starving children were often motionless, resembling corpses.

Tragic Death

Just three months after receiving the Pulitzer Prize, at the age of 33, Carter tragically took his own life. On July 27, 1994, he drove his pickup truck to the riverbank and used adhesive tape to attach one end of a hose to the exhaust pipe while running the other end through the side window into the vehicle. Carter died from carbon monoxide poisoning. An excerpt from his suicide note reads, "I am depressed... My phone is disconnected... I have no money for rent... No money for my children... Can't pay the bills... Money!!! I am haunted by vivid memories of killings, and corpses, and anger, and pain... images of starving or wounded children, psychopaths with itchy trigger fingers, many of them government police, or executioners... If I'm lucky, I'll meet Ken."

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