PhotoShopping Culture

This is the original photograph of Che Guevara, which has been widely modified and reused across the world, and has almost become a modern cultural icon. Guevara was a Marxist revolutionary who was mostly known for his leading of guerrilla troops to overthrow the Cuban dictator and his strong political belief in socialism. However, his life (almost moreso his image) has come to gain a new meaning in today's society that is more associated with revolutionary thought and the counterculture. What he represents is widely disputed and has created much controversy, as many people praise him while others dislike him. This photograph was taken by Alberto Korda at a funeral, but the monochrome version of the picture (shown below) is the one that has been most widely circulated. It has even been called "the most famous photograph in the world and a symbol of the 20th century." Many other adaptations have been made to the picture, and a few of them are shown below.



The first picture is the one that most people recognize, the icon that can be seen on many items of clothing, posters and magazines. There is actually a website, TheCheStore.com, that sells all kinds of merchandise with this same image and also other images of Che Guevara on them. There is also a New York Times article, that discusses how Guevara has become more than just a revolutionary icon and progressed into a marketing and advertising option. The second image is actually on the wall of the Ministry of Interior building in the Plaza de la Revolucion in Havana, Cuba. Directly below the image are the words, "Hasta la Victoria Siempre" which means "Forever Onwards Towards Victory." I thought it was interesting that even with the simple outlines used in this rendition of the photograph, it was still able to artistically convey the meaning and significance felt in the original image. The third image is a painting called "Garden of Revolution" and it was painted by Austrian artist named Dr. Werner Horvath. He has many paintings of this same style, which he calls "New Constructivism" and there is a whole philosophy that goes along with it. I really liked how the details of the image subtly flowed together to create a sort of background landscape, but then also focused enough to generate the image of Guevara. This is an adaptation I made of the image using a program called Virtual Painter. With it you can upload pictures to the program and it will modify it using different filters. There were many different filters to choose from, but the one I used is called Silk Screen. It is better to click on the image for a larger view in order to see the details of the picture, but the lines give it a very topographical look, which adds a sense of military feel to the picture.