The photo I chose as the basis of my appropriation (Chinese Baby Sitting Amidst the Wreckage) is a famous photo taken by a Chinese photographer named Wang Xiao Ting. This photo was taken in 1937 when the bombing of Shanghai by the Japanese army occurred. This was a few months before the Nanjing Massacre occurred, but this photo was widely misconceived as a photo from the massacre. Additionally, the array of photos put out by the Chinese government which now circulates the Internet are posed as photos from the event, but investigation of the origins of these photos showed that none of them are authentic. Both countries involved in this event- China and Japan, put in considerable effort to altar the record of this historical event. In Japanese history classes, the severity of the massacre was significantly mitigated, or not mentioned at all. In China, they released pictures and footages that are very likely staged to fuel the anti-Japanese hatred in the Chinese people. I decided to appropriate the misused photo taken by the Chinese photographer in a way that alludes to the actions done by both sides after the war. First, I printed out the photo, and made burn marks and holes all over it to give the photo a tattered and damaged look. I used this process to signify the Chinese government’s action of exaggerating and fabricating the severity of the Nanjing massacre. Then, I filled in the burn holes with pastel colors to represent Japan’s downplay of this event. I chose the pastel colors because they have a very happy and naïve feel, which contrasts sharply with the burn holes. Then, I took out the original picture completely and left just the pastel color marks. I used this process to represent the gradual fading memory of the Nanking Massacre in the Japanese people’s minds.
