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Zbigniew Libera<br />
Nepal, 2003, from the Posytywy series, 2002-2003<br />
In Nepal Polish artist Zbigniew Libera quotes a historical photograph with negative connotations. It immediately<br />
evokes Nick Ut's Pulitzer-Prize winning press photograph that shows children running away from a<br />
napalm attack. In the centre is naked Kim Phuc, eight years old at the time, who had suffered major burns.<br />
The people in Libera's montage, however, do not scream but smile and run for fun. They have been arranged<br />
exactly according to the original but the road has been transformed into a parched field. Despite the happy<br />
faces, the mood is sombre beneath a threatening sky.<br />
Our attention is immediately drawn to the naked young woman who seems to run towards us, leaning<br />
forward and with slightly raised arms. In contrast to its model, Libera's image does not make sense. We<br />
cannot explain what the naked woman is doing among the other people, some of whom have hang-gliding<br />
equipment.<br />
By presenting the image as a press photo, making it look as though it had been torn from a magazine,<br />
the artist adds one more narrative layer. A text fragment can still be read at the bottom, right. It reads Nepal,<br />
a direct evocation of “napalm”.<br />
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