Today in history: Bang Bang Club photographer commits suicide
Kevin Carter, a South African photojournalist and Pulitzer Prize winner, committed suicide on this day 22 years ago.
Just three months after winning a Pulitzer Award for his controversial picture taken in Sudan, Kevin Carter committed suicide.
Kevin, a renowned photographer, was part of the Bang Bang Club, along with Greg Marinovich, Ken Oosterbroek and João Silva. Together, they worked hard to expose the violence of Apartheid to the rest of the world.
He died of carbon monoxide poisoning, after parking his car against a bluegum tree. He backed his red Nissan truck against the tree, attached a garden hose to the exhaust pipe, and rolled up the window of his car.
He turned on his Walkman and rested his head against his backpack until he died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Kevin left a suicide note that read: “I’m really, really sorry. The pain of life overrides the joy to the point that joy does not exist … depressed … without phone … money for rent … money for child support … money for debts … money! … I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings & corpses & anger & pain … of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners… I have gone to join Ken if I am that lucky.”
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