Back in the 80's there were lots of pictures of kids and war. From Palestine, from Ethiopia, from Afghanistan there were pictures, back then, that were iconic and are still recognizable. Interestingly, as of late, some of those pictures have come back with updates.
There was the National Geographic portrait of the Afghani girl from 1984 who resurfaced with a later portrait (in 2002):
image taken from NationalGeographic.com
More recent is the story about a little boy whose image was taken while he was furiously hurling a stone. Back in the 80's, the stone throwing children were a strong part of the resistance, become icons of strength in their own right (branded Children of the Stones).
Ramzi Hussein Aburedwan, the little vivacious boy, is today a violinist. Turning his energies to music, he isn't only a respected player, but also a very respected teacher. He runs a school in Palestine where he teaches children to play the violin. His school is called Al Kamandjati.
What strikes me about these stories, just like Robert Frank's 'Girl in the Elevator', is the moment that we, as viewers, all stay with for decades to come are only remet with an "after" image. We have been given the opportunity to re-meet the subjects of these striking photos. With that, entire lives fill that gap of time between the mili-second of that first shutter-flap that created the iconic image that we know, and today.
It's almost like a time lapse. After all, that's what animation is...
More on Ramzi Hussein Aburedwan
listen and read: NPR
videos, pictures and more reading: The Star blog
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