PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – Cambodia has called on US media group VICE to withdraw an article with freshly colored photographs of victims of Khmer Rouge’s “fields killing”, saying the images were an insult to the dead. as some cups had been modified to add smiles.
On Sunday at 1200 GMT, the article was later no longer available on the VICE.com website.
In the article published Friday, artist Matt Loughrey said his project to paint images of the famous Tuol Sleng prison, or S-21, was aimed at humanizing the 14,000 Cambodians executed and tortured there.
However, the article provoked a reaction on social media after comparisons with the original black-and-white photographs showed that some subjects only smiled at Loughrey’s color images. The VICE article did not contain the original images.
“Playing using technology to make up the victims of S21 … is a very serious insult to the souls of the victims of the #genocide,” exiled Cambodian politician Mu Sochua wrote on Twitter.
The Cambodian Ministry of Culture issued a statement asking Loughrey and VICE to remove the images.
“We urge investigators, artists and the public not to manipulate any historical source to respect the victims,” the ministry said.
Loughrey, who in the VICE interview said she had worked with the families of the victims to restore the photos, declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.
VICE also did not respond to a request for comment, but on Sunday added a note from the editor, before the article subsequently disappeared from the site.
“It has been pointed out that the restored portraits published in this article were modified beyond colorization. We are reviewing the article and are considering other actions to correct the record, ”he said.
Youk Chhang, director of the Cambodia Documentation Center, compared the alterations to rewriting the story. An online petition demanding the removal of the article garnered thousands of signatures.
At least 1.7 million Cambodians died during the reign of the Khmer Rouge extremist in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.
Prak Chan Thul Reports; Written by Kay Johnson; Edited by Raissa Kasolowsky