Che Forever
Alberto Korda photographed Che Guevara on March 5, 1960 during an honorary march for the victims of the La Coubre explosion. Kordas attention was not specifically on Che, but on the entire event. This picture remained largely unknown for seven years. The Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli acquired the rights to Che’s Bolivian diary in 1967 and looked for a suitable portrait. Feltrinelli distributed thousands of copies of the selected photograph, which should raise awareness of Che’s situation in captivity. After his execution, he published the Bolivian diary with the photo as the cover. This picture should go down in history, should become the most famous portrait ever. But why? Is it because of Che’s ideas or his personal story – or more generally, that people love tragic heroes? That when you die young, an advantageous, youthful image is preserved for ever? The fact that the opinions still differ on whether Che was a hero or a terrorist (according to the newspaper “die Welt”)? Or the expression on Che’s face that looks visionary and at the same time determined?
During a longer stay in Cuba, I strolled through the streets of Havana in search of Mr. Guevara. In Cuba, it really doesn’t take long to find the one or other depiction of Che’s iconic picture – he is omnipresent, but appears quite different every time.
Published in The Photographic Journal and Pictures Magazine
