A recent Guardian photographic feature aiming to capture the story of the 21st century has sparked pointed criticism from readers for a significant omission: the devastating imagery emerging from the conflict in Gaza.
A 'Puzzling' Exclusion from the Historical Record
In a letter to the editor, one reader expressed profound confusion over the absence of photographs from Gaza's recent bombardment in the paper's selection of 46 iconic images. The feature, published on 27 December and titled 'The sight of it is still shocking', was intended to document the defining visual moments of the century so far.
The correspondent argued that the collection should have included scenes of Gaza's skeletal landscape, ravaged by thousands of tons of explosives, and the widespread global demonstrations against the conflict. They highlighted the use of artificially intelligent targeting software as a grim portent of future warfare.
Images 'Seared into Our Collective Memory'
The reader's letter specified several powerful, absent images they believe are indelibly etched into public consciousness, particularly for billions in the global south. These included photographs of pensioners and priests being arrested at protests, and the heart-rending picture of 18-month-old Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, held by his mother while wearing a nappy fashioned from a black plastic bag due to severe malnutrition.
They also noted the poignant assembly of portraits of 238 journalists killed in Gaza, a number cited as the highest ever recorded in a single conflict by the Gaza Media Center. The reader contended that a single included photograph of the West Bank separation barrier was no substitute for these devastating records.
A Poetic Parallel on Inequality
In a separate response to the same photo special, another reader drew a literary parallel. Reflecting on an image of migrants stranded on the border wall of Melilla, a Spanish enclave in Morocco, with a golf course visible on the other side, they recalled a 20th-century poem by American social reformer Sarah Norcliffe Cleghorn.
The verse, which contrasts labouring children with men at play on nearby golf links, served as an imperfect but resonant analogy for the stark inequalities captured in the photograph. The reader, Phil Coughlin from Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear, signed off by wryly noting that it's an imperfect world.
The Guardian's letters section invited further commentary on the issue, underscoring the ongoing debate about which images define our era and the responsibilities of editorial selection in shaping historical narrative.
