The Great Lie

Date: 6 May 1999 - 29 May 1999

Political power frequently uses propaganda. The technical possibilities of today, such as the photoshop program, make 'the truth' increasingly difficult to trace. Over sixty years ago political messages were less subtle. Political cleansing was ruthlessly executed in Russia under Stalin's reign, even in imaging.
David King, a former journalist for The Sunday Times, has collected Russian photographic manipulations from the thirties onwards. Series of photographs show that the images of executed people were retouched, so even their memory would fade. The retouching and manipulation of images has apparently been used as in instrument of power throughout the ages.
In the exhibition at Stroom more than a hundred manipulated images form Stalin's Russia were shown.