Kaplan discusses the impact of memorable photos on social change

Journalism Professor John Kaplan was recently interviewed for an article, “Pictures that Changed History,” published in the Sept. 7 edition of the Beijing Mirror Evening News. The article was spurred by the impact of the harrowing photograph of drowned toddler Aylan Kurdi on Turkey’s Bodrum beach.

Kaplan commented that the seemingly peaceful photo of the child is in sharp contrast to the genocide occurring in Syria and throughout the Middle East. According to Kaplan, sometimes photos that don’t shout out the atrocities of the world can actually affect change more profoundly than those that show atrocities at their most violent.

“The greatest still photos are pierced into our memories, and truly can affect social change. I hope that Aylan Kurdi’s legacy will be greater tolerance and a new, united call for peace,” said Kaplan.

Kaplan, a former Pulitzer Prize winner in photography, referenced other memorable photos for the article including a young girl, Kim Phuc, running from a napalm attack in Vietnam, an “Afghan Girl” image in National Geographic magazine, and a dramatic photo of a vulture overlooking a starving refugee in Sudan.

Kaplan is currently on sabbatical doing research on the impact of Pulitzer Prize-winning photography.

Posted: September 15, 2015
Category: The College in the News
Tagged as: Beijing Mirror Evening News, John Kaplan