“On the Rights of Molotov Man: Appropriation and the art of context” offers two sides to a famous dispute over the rights of an image. In 2003, Joy Garnett painted her version of an image by photographer Susan Meiselas, depicting a man throwing a bomb at a “Somoza national guard garrison, one of the last such garrisons remaining in Somoza’s hands” (57). When word spread that Meiselas and her lawyer were coming after Garnett for her unlicensed reproduction of the image, “Molotov Man” soon became a wide-spread symbol of the long-standing dispute over artists’ rights to images.
Through time, the significance behind Molotov Man began to take many different forms. As Meiselas’ image became more widely known, the context of the image was lost. Soon, the image became symbolic of both sides of the Nicaraguan power struggle: both the Sandinistas and Contras were using Molotov Man to promote their initiatives.
I understand why Meiselas was initially opposed to the widespread reproduction of her photograph and the decontextualization that followed. What I don’t quite agree with is her claiming of the image as her own. I more closely align with Garnett’s claim that the only one who has rights over the image is the Molotov Man himself; Meiselas was just the one who captured it. While the meaning may be lost in replication, the remaking of her photograph by various artists has certainly brought more attention to the photograph and aroused appreciation far beyond what Meiselas could have accomplished herself.