BEAUTIFUL

Without any further information,
this photograph,
is nothing but beautiful form.

Black and white,
almost symmetric,
but not fully,
the hair of the young girl opening like a curtain,
showing a pretty,
earnest looking face,
the roundness of her head
echoed by the shining buttons of her shirt.

But then you will get the information,
that this girl was captured,
and put into an extermination camp,
tortured,
and somewhere along the way,
she died.
Maybe she was murdered,
or the conditions
she lived in,
killed her.

And then
you might think,
who can torture
this child
and
how can it be, you might murmur silently,
how can it be,
that you haven´t guessed her
fate
looking at this photograph,
that was taken,
by the prison photographer,
in a moment,
full of terrifying prospects,
and all what we see
is
a young,
and calm,
human being,
with a almost invisible smile
in her face.

S-21 prison, Phnom Penh, Cambodia,

Title
0109
Caption
Unidentified prisoner
Year
1975-79