Digitising atrocity

Date: 19^th December 2016

Photographer: Burhan Ozbilici

Photograph: Shooting of Andrei Karlov at the opening of Cagdas Municipal Art Gallery’s exhibition of Russian landscapes in Ankara, Turkey

Burham Ozbilici The Associated Press (19/12/16)

This image shows Andrei Karlov, a Russian ambassador after being shot, possibly by an off-duty police officer. “The crime that was committed is without doubt a provocation at disrupting the normalisation of Russian – Turkish relations and disrupting the peace process in Syria that is being actively advanced by Russia, Turkey and Iran.” (Walker et al, 2016) This terrorist attack of a Russian assassination in Turkey could be seen as a symbol in the Turkish involvement with Russia. Turkey and Russia were restoring ties after Russia shot down a Turkish plane in 2015.

The photograph was submitted for the World Press Photo Awards in 2017 which caused controversy among the judges. Radio Free Europe highlighted that Russia officially criticised the image, labelling it as “demoralising” and showing “complete degradation of ethics and moral values.” (Ozbilici, 2017) The photographer claims to have taken the image to record what would become history and journalism.

The World Press was concerned that the image may “amplify a terrorist message in some way […] I don’t think we can forget that this was a premeditated, staged murder at a press conference. It seemed to me to reaffirm the impact between martyrdom and publicity.” (Shepherd, 2017)

At least 3 photographers captured images of the shooting which was shared globally through different processes and at different speeds, although they did not all receive the same attention. The other two images identify the victim through his face. 

Yavus Alatan Daily Sozcu Newspaper (19/12/2017) 

Hasim Kilic – Hurriet Media Organisation (19/12/2016)

Publishers may not know if the family had been informed. Ozbilici’s image is theatrical, showing the emotion on the face of the shooter and the power of the photographer to stand in front and capture the image. The viewer reads the immediacy of the image; this is happening now. The other images are not confronting the shooter. Ozbilici’s image was uploaded to Facebook and shared 58,000 times that evening. Reports suggest that other images took longer before being seen by viewers, although some news sites used all 3 images. The other images show bullet casings and give an idea of the situation.

References

Walker et al. (2016) Russian ambassador to Turkey shot dead by police officer in Ankara gallery. The Guardian. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/19/russian-ambassador-to-turkey-wounded-in-ankara-shooting-attack last accessed 7/9/17

Ozbilici, B (2016) Witness to an assassination: A P photographer captures attack. APPress. [online] Available at: https://apnews.com/eadca282d5d341a79bb464bbadc4fa11 last accessed 7/9/17

Shepherd, J. (2017) Photograph of Russian ambassador wins top prize at World Press Photo contest. The Independent [online] Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/photography/world-press-photo-2017-russian-ambassador-assassination-of-the-year-a7577551.html last accessed 7/9/17

Bibliography

Vartanian, H. (2017) Controversial Assassination Picture wins 2017 World Press Photo Award. Hyperallergic [online]. Available at: https://hyperallergic.com/358285/world-press-photo-announces-winners-of-2017-contest/ last accessed 7/9/17

Katz, A. (2016) Three photographers witnessed an assassination. One went viral. Time [online]. Available at: http://time.com/4608713/russia-turkey-assassination-photos/ last accessed 7/9/17