Vice apologized for profiling artist Matt Loughrey and his work "restoring" photos of Australian women's prison inmates and victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide by adding smiles to their faces. In the article, neither Vice nor Loughrey mentioned that Loughrey had added the smiles to people were in misery.
From The Guardian:
Cambodia has condemned images published by Vice media group that featured victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide, colourised and with some apparently edited to add smiles to their faces.
The artist Matt Loughrey modified images taken at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, where thousands of people were tortured and interrogated before they were sent on to the killing fields of Choeung Ek.
Detailed records were kept by jailers, who took black-and-white photographs of every prisoner. The images were profiled by Vice on Friday, in an article that has since been removed.
Whores of Yore said of the above photo: "This is 25yo old Muriel Goldsmith, who was convicted of stealing valuables in the Criterion Hotel in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. She was a prolific thief with a string of aliases. This is her mugshot. To present her as smiling is a terrible distortion of the truth."
Regarding the photo above, Whores of Yore wrote, "This is Fay Watson's mugshot. She was arrested & convicted for possessing cocaine. There isn't much trace of Fat after this, but this wasn't a happy occasion for her – as it clearly visible in the original."
Even more bizarre are the photos of the brutal Khmer Rouge genocide to which Loughrey gave artificial smiles. Here's one example, and here's another.
The question everyone wants to ask Loughrey is why? But he is not answering press requests.
