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Gaddafi’s photobooks shed new light


To the victors go the spoils of war and, although the Libyan conflict is not technically over, the rebels, nonetheless, jubilant in their takeover of Tripoli, have been “taking” a few prized items along the way as they consolidate power.

Tyler Hicks, a photographer who works for the New York Times, who has been in Libya documenting the fighting that has engulfed the country following the Spring Rising, came across some things that the looters had ignored.

It immediately struck a chord with him.

He found some of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s personal photobooks. His instinct was to take them, along with photo frames, back to his hotel room, not out of a desire to plunder for monetary remuneration, but out of a desire to preserve them for history’s judgement and analysis.

He is after all a photographer and journalist who understands the power of images.

It’s what he bases his career on.

Moreover, Mr Hicks is in an informed position. Having also been in a similar situation during the Iraq War of 2003, he knows all too well that photographs often get destroyed when there's widespread looting and chaos because they technically don't have any material wealth.

Speaking to the newspaper, he said: "It's usually the typical handshake photo. But mixed among all those images were these moments where he let his guard down and we actually saw something other than those staged moments."

These images, which look as though they have been taken over the years, will no doubt add new conversation points, thoughts and ideas about Gaddafi, as after all, a person’s private image is often different to a public persona.

Mr Hicks has now made arrangements to pass on over the photobooks to a Libyan official, whose job it now is to archive the photos for future analysis.

What these photographs will ultimately reveal about Gaddafi, his family, his friends and political enemies is still unknown, especially at this juncture in the country’s history.

However, in time, as historians and journalists begin to reflect upon the dramatic events of 2011, the images will be one of the many starting points in the endeavour to uncover and understand the secrets and nature of this regime, which has ruled over Libya since 1969 when it overthrew the monarchy.
 

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