Cambodia condemns images published by the Vice Media group, which feature the victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide, colored and with some apparently edited to give smiles to their faces.
Artist Matt Loughrey edited the images taken in the infamous Tuol Sleng Prison, where thousands of people were tortured and interrogated before being sent to the killing fields of Choeung I.
Detailed records were kept by prison guards, who took black-and-white photos of each prisoner. The images were profiled by Vice on Friday in an article that has since been removed.
Youk Chhang, the director of the Cambodia Documentation Center, which maintains an extensive archive of material relating to the Khmer Rouge, and himself a survivor, said his heart was pounding when he saw revised versions of the photos. “How can you turn hell into happiness?” he said. “It was a serious injustice for the victims to change such a piece of history, which is still a living history.”
The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts said it considered the edited images “to seriously affect the dignity of the victims” and called for them to be removed from the publication, threatening legal action.
Vice said the report did not meet the editorial standards: “The article contains photos of the Khmer Rouge victims who manipulated Loughrey out of colorization … We regret the mistake and will investigate how this failure of the editorial process took place. “
In the interview with Vice, who has now been removed, Loughrey said he started working on photos of Tuol Sleng when someone in Cambodia contacted him who wanted three photos – including one ID photo taken in prison is – had to be repaired.
He then works on further images of victims, adding that more people have come forward with requests.
Asked about the smiles that appeared on some generations’ faces, Loughrey said it was possibly due to nervousness and that women seem to smile more often than men, but he did not say he smiled at some of the did not add restored images. The allegation that the expressions on people’s faces were altered was not raised during the interview.
On social media, however, people posted the original images along with the edited versions and asked why individuals’ expressions changed.
“Playing around using technology to make up the victims of S21 … is a very serious insult to the souls of the victims of genocide,” tweeted the banished Cambodian politician Mu Sochua.
It is estimated that 1.7 million people, a quarter of the then population of Cambodia, died under the Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979.
The ministry said Loughrey’s project also violated the rights of the museum as the legal owner and custodian of the statues. “We call on researchers, artists and the public not to manipulate any historical source to respect the victims,” he said.
Loughrey did not immediately respond to a request for comment.