This black and white picture was taken during a napalm attack during the Vietnam War in 1972. The landscape is bare save for an overgrown field and a few buildings in the background. In the centre of the picture is a young naked girl, a haunting scream on her face as she runs down a cracked asphalt street from the enormous cloud of smoke behind her. She is surrounded by five clothed children and four armed and uniformed soldiers. The children wear terrified expressions on their faces, whereas the soldiers do not look particularly frightened to the naked eye. The malicious dark colour of the cloud, when compared to the light gray of the street leading the
innocent children into safety from the ever closer growing danger, makes the situation look even more bleak.The picture is devoid of colour but full of life nonetheless. The children’s screams resonate in the viewer’s ears, as does the rumble of the ongoing air raid and humanity’s inherent fear of their own demise is reflected in the children’s faces. The poisonous cloud seems to have a life of its own as it appears to close in on its terrified victims, rendering the viewers unable to tear their eyes away from the scene in fear that the break in eye contact will set the scene into motion.
