The media group on Sunday apologized for publishing the work of an artist who had edited photographs of victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide to make them appear as if they were smiling, calling it a “failure of the publishing process.” .
Vice Asia published an interview with Matt Loughrey on April 9, detailing his coloring work on photographs of detainees detained at Tuol Sleng Prison where they were tortured and interrogated before being sent to slaughter camps. Not only were they colored, but the faces of the prisoners had been edited to look like they were smiling. The article has since been removed.
Cambodia condemned the modified photos shortly after they were published. Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts said it considered the images “severely affected the dignity of the victims” and called for them to withdraw from the threat of legal action, according to The Guardian.
“On Friday 9 April, VICE Asia published an interview with Matt Loughrey, an artist working to restore and color images of the 21 security prison in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, which had been used by the Khmer Rouge regime since 1975 until its fall in 1979. The article included photographs of Khmer Rouge victims that Loughrey manipulated beyond colorization.The story did not meet VICE editorial standards and has been deleted.We apologize for the mistake and will investigate how this failure of the publishing process has occurred, ”the company said he said in a statement.
In the interview, Loughrey said his work on the photos had begun after someone from Cambodia contacted him to restore three of them. More requests were soon followed. While some prisoners were already smiling at his photos, Loughrey acknowledged adding smiles to others.
The fine arts ministry said Loughrey’s work violated the rights of the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum as owners and legal custodians of the images, The Guardian reported.
“We urge investigators, artists and the public not to manipulate any historical source to respect the victims,” the ministry said.