The Week in Art: 19 May 2025
More cultural activism as well as questions over Napalm Girl attribution, missing Melania and Palestine
Attribution of Napalm Girl called into question:
This week, the World Press Photo Foundation has suspended the attribution of one of the most iconic photographs of the 20th century, Napalm Girl. The photograph became a symbol of opposition to the Vietnam War, and is closely tied with the infamous My Lai massacre in which US troops killed hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians. The photograph, taken on June 8, 1972, had previously been attributed to Nick Ut, an Associated Press photographer, who won the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography and the 1973 World Press Photo of the Year for the image. The attribution is being called into question after research emerged from the VII Foundation, released as part of The Stringer documentary. It claims that it is more likely that stringer Nguyễn Thà nh Nghệ or Huỳnh Công Phúc captured the atrocity. A follow-up visual analysis by the AP has indicated an uncertain provenance.
Melania Goes Missing:
Melania goes missing from her hometown in Slovenia. Melania, the larger-than-life avatar of the United States’ first lady, has made an undignified exit from Sevnica this week. However, this is not the first time the statue of Trump’s wife has gone missing. The initial iteration of the statue, unveiled in July 2019, was turned into a Fourth of July bonfire the following year. Unperturbed, US artist Brad Downey made a replacement in bronze. This time, and in similarly comedic fashion, the statue was not (could not) be burnt. Melania appears to have undergone an amputation, removed, almost entirely, with only her feet left behind.
British Museum Picketed After Tone-Deaf Pro-Israel Event During Nakba Week:
This was not the only incident of cultural activism this week. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators picketed the British Museum after it emerged that it was hosting an event to mark the anniversary of the signing of the Israeli Declaration of Independence. Hosts of the event included Israeli Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely, Defence Minister Maria Eagle and comedian Jimmy Carr. It was not lost on critics that this celebration comes in the same week of the commemoration of the Nakba, which took place 77 years ago. Roughly translating to ‘Catastrophe Day’ in Arabic, this year’s remembrance has been more contentious than most, with intensified bombing of the Gaza strip and an Israeli blockade which has rendered 290,000 children ‘on the brink of death’. This week also saw Israelis celebrating the Nakba, much to the disapproval of the wider international community. A spokesperson for the climate organisation Energy Embargo for Palestine said ‘it is unconscionable for a British public institution like the British Museum to host an event in celebration of Israel - a state currently perpetrating war crimes and genocide in Gaza’. The group also demanded that the museum disclose the extent of its links with Israel and end its partnership with BP.
100 Photos from Palestine:
Al Jazeera has published 100 archival images of Palestine before the 1948 Nakba. The photographs show a time before lines were redrawn, places were renamed and farmers tended olive groves all in relative peace before Zionist militias expelled 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and captured nearly 80% of historical Palestine. It makes for a captivating read and I strongly recommend you take a look at a world that has been lost forever.