ANGER AT ‘SMILING’ KILLING FIELDS PICS
Artist criticised for retouching and colouring Khmer Rouge mugshots
AN Irish artist has come under fire for altering photos of Khmer Rouge “killing fields” victims by adding smiles.
Cambodia yesterday urged US media group VICE to withdraw an article featuring colourised photos of victims.
It said the images were an insult to the dead because some mugshots had been altered to add smiles.
The article was no longer available on VICE.COM yesterday afternoon.
Matt Loughrey said his project to turn pictures from the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, or S-21 into colour, aimed to humanise the 14,000 people executed and tortured there.
Loughrey is behind My
Colorful Past – an image restoration and colour studios based in Co Mayo.
The article, which was published on Friday, caused a backlash on social media after comparisons with the original black and white photos showed some subjects were smiling only in Loughrey’s versions.
The VICE article did not contain the original images.
Exiled Cambodian politician Mu Sochua wrote on Twitter: “To play around by using technology to put make-up on the victims of S21 … is a very grave insult to the souls of the victims of #genocide.”
Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture issued a statement calling on Loughrey and VICE to remove the images.
It said: “We urge researchers, artists and the public not to manipulate any historical source to respect the victims.”
Loughrey, who in the VICE interview said he had worked with victims’ families to restore the photos, refused to comment when contacted by the Irish Daily Mirror.
VICE said: “It has been brought to our attention that the restored portraits published in this article were modified beyond colourisation.
“We are reviewing the article and considering further actions to correct the record.”
Director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia Youk Chhang compared the alterations to rewriting history.
An online petition demanding the article be removed gained thousands of signatures.
At least 1.7 million Cambodians died in the extremist Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror from 1975 to 1979.
Using technology to put make-up on the victims of S21... is a very grave insult MU SOCHUA TWEET FROM EXILED CAMBODIAN POLITICIAN