Think of the Kennedy assassination and a flood of memories come to mind. I can recall the round-the-clock television coverage and the general somber mood and silence everywhere. Mostly though, a series of images pervades. You might remember some of them. LBJ, one hand raised, the other on the Bible, takes the oath with Jackie beside him still wearing her bloodstained suit. A flag-draped coffin lies in the Rotunda. A young widow in a long black veil stands with her children. These images come to our consciousness from much-publicized photographs so familiar they have become entwined with our own experiences of the event. They emotionally encapsulate a period as vividly as a snippet of music or a particular smell.
As with other members of the “boom” generation, the historical events that happened during my lifetime have been well-documented. This extensive documentation has been distilled down to a few dramatic photographs used by the media as visual references. These images serve as a kind of shorthand in our collective memory, synonymous with names like Kent State or Ruby and Oswald.
In Trolling for Truth, I am exploring the relationship between these media-made cultural icons and our recalled memories of these seminal moments. What defines these episodes as seminal? Are we reacting with gut feelings to the events themselves? Or are we responding to the photographs, the power of the visual image, thereby creating new cultural idols? In this day and age it may not be possible to separate our experience of any event from our recollection of the images associated with that event but it is imperative that we recognize the difference.
Credits for BW Photos
John Filo Associated Press, May 4, 1970 Kent State University, Ohio
Eddie Adams, Associated Press, February 1, 1968 Street in Saigon
Unknown Photographer, Associated Press, November 26, 1963 Outside St. Matthew’s Cathedral, Washington DC
Robert H. Jackson, Dallas Times-Herald, November 24, 1963 Dallas Police Headquarters, Texas
Hubert van Es, United Press International, April 29, 1975 American Embassy, Saigon
Hibernia bank surveillance photo, April 15, 1974 Hibernia Bank, San Francisco (Tania)