Photograph

• In a globalised and fast-moving media landscape, photographs are more efficient than words.
• The notion of photography as a universal language has been around since photography’s origins and, despite criticism, remains powerful.
• Yet, even in the era of digital and AI-enhanced imagery, the idea that photography reveals the truth persists.
• Catholic propagandists disseminated real photographs of slain priests and militants, both in Mexico and abroad, as proof of federal violence.
• Some of the most powerful photographs from wartime have catalysed fierce debate on the justification of conflict.

1. Liberation of concentration camps (1945)

• Journalists have turned to the camera when words seem incapable of describing the most extreme wartime atrocities.
• This was the experience of US and British reporters covering the Allied liberation of the concentration camps at the end of the second world war.

2. “Napalm Girl” (1972)

• The image created the myth that the US was responsible when in reality the napalm had been accidentally dropped by South Vietnamese forces.
• Although Ut’s photograph did not radically transform US public opinion to the extent often assumed, it became an icon for anti-war sentiment and Ut claimed that it influenced soldiers’ decisions to abandon the war.

3. Abu Ghraib (2004)

• Photographs have played a powerful role in exposing war crimes, as in the case of the now infamous images documenting torture against detainees at the US military prison in Abu Ghraib, Iraq.
• Although written reports of abuses had been circulating for over a year, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed only the images provided a “vivid realisation” of what happened.
• The image significantly damaged public perception of US foreign policy and was appropriated as a symbol of protest around the world.

Pippa Oldfield's research has previously been supported by funding from AHRC; The British Academy; Paul Mellon Centre; and Peter Palmquist Memorial Fund, among others. Lucy O'Sullivan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.