The exhibition was part of a collection of 7,000 archival portraits of doomed prisoners, before their execution, taken by Pol Pot's henchmen themselves. This week, the image of President Clinton on the Great Wall was transmitted around the world. Last week, a story about the first photo of the AIDS virus, in full attack-mode, made the front page of the New York Times. Last month, the Indian government, paranoid about space-based surveillance cameras, successfully tested a nuclear missile launcher. They achieved this by deliberately timing their preparations to elude spy satellites.
Pictures serve as a sort of visual undergrowth in the recesses of our lives.
The weather forecast that helped me determine how I'd dress today was created by meteorologists examining sequences of still photographs. The security cameras in my office, my bank, and various public buildings around me, are snapping my picture in a stream of still frames. My wallet contains pictures of my kids, and a photo I.D. that allows the state and national governments to keep tabs on me. My computer screen-saver consists of a virtual slide show of pictures of my family. The bottom line is, that our culture's addicted to pictures.