Peace Works Travel Blog

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Spotted At The Space: Nick Ut & Kim Phúc

Introduction

On our unprecedented educational field trip to the Annenberg Space for Photography War Photos, Peace Works Travel students and schools enjoyed a conversation with Living History icons, the 1972 “Napalm Girl” Kim Phuc, and the Pulitzer-Prize winning photographer, Nick Ut. Illustrating that our program offers enrichment far beyond the standard educational travel tours, students were treated to a personal lunch and interaction with these amazing individuals from the Vietnam War. “Our students are incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity,” remarked history teacher Eric Taylor of Francis Parker School. “Understanding the war from such a personal, human perspective will make their Vietnam spring break 2014 educational experience so much more meaningful.” Peace Works Travel partners with Francis Parker’s Global Initiatives for life-changing international student volunteer learning trips.

We had a couple of very special visitors at the Photography Space this past weekend. Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press photographer Nick Ut came to the WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY exhibit along with Kim Phúc, the little girl in his famous Vietnam War photo. The two viewed the photos and the film in the show. Above is a picture from their visit.

Phúc was only nine when the image was taken 41 years ago and now lives in Toronto. She described the event in an interview last year:

“Suddenly I saw fire around me and it burned my clothes. I was very scared and began to cry. I tried to run away from there…I ran and ran until I saw people in front of me. I felt very hot, thirsty and asked for help. They gave me water to drink and wet my body, and I lost consciousness.”

Here’s archival film footage of the moment when Ut took his photograph.


Source: http://www.annenbergspaceforphotography.org/the-shot-blog/spotted-space-nick-ut-kim-ph%C3%BAc

Kim Phúc,Nick Ut,Vietnam War,War,War/Photography