Considering the Ankara Assassination Photos As History Painting

'What makes these pictures so different from all of the other pictures of death that we see? The poses are almost classical, frozen, or rehearsed as if from theater, ballet, painting, or mannequin display. The photographer, working the art opening for the Associated Press, deserves all of the enormous credit he's received for responding as fluidly as a war photographer to the sudden outbreak of violence. But if I told you the images were fake, or staged, you might believe me. As Kurt Andersen put it on Twitter, “the great photojournalism of 2016 is continuing to resemble stills from a scary, not-entirely-realistic movie” — and that strange familiarity we feel in looking at the images is one reason they are so uncomfortable to contemplate. Everything in the images is emotion articulated, caught, performed, and real. All of this triggers an unreal internal visual dance. It's a new surrealism of modern life, made all the more harrowing because it could not be more truly real.'

Vulture