Molotov Man Essay

Molotov Man

The identity of Molotov Man has changed over time from a representative symbol of his country’s revolution to a symbol of the struggle between ownership and artistic freedom. He first appeared as the subject of a photograph in Susan Meiselas’s series, Nicaragua, in 1979, but reached greater fame after Joy Garnett painted his image for her Riot series in 2003. Because of its dramatic changes in meaning, Molotov forces its viewers to consider the way a work’s interpretation is altered as it is taken further and further from its original context.

In his original photo, Molotov is seen throwing his bomb at a Somoza national guard garrison, the figures and objects around him giving some form of context to the work. Meiselas is careful to preserve context, hoping to respect her subject’s individuality. In this particular case, she wanted to capture the exact moment that the Somoza fell from power and the Sandinistas took over (Garnett and Meiselas 56-57).

 
(Nicaragua by Susan Meislas)

Molotov’s image was used by many different organizations over the years, such as by the Nicaraguan Catholic Church in their tribute to a Jesuit priest that died fighting against Somoza rule or in the case of the Sandinistas themselves, who used the image to embody their cause and encourage men to join the militia. Even the Sandinistas’ enemies, the Contras, used the image as they pleaded for support from the United States. Still, in all these uses there is still a link to the original context: revolution in Nicaragua (Garnett and Meiselas, 57).

That link was severed when Joy Garnett painted the picture of Molotov in 2003. Her approach to art was very different from that of Meiselas. Garnett searched for pure, extreme emotion that was detached from any particular context. She even went as far as saving the images she wished to paint on her computer until she could no longer remember the narrative that accompanied each photo. Her work was about aesthetics alone. In the case of Molotov, background imagery was stripped away and the focus was turned to the man himself and his intense expression (Garnett and Meiselas, 53).

 
(Molotov by Joy Garnett)

This lack of context upset Meiselas, who threatened a lawsuit against Garnett for using her work without permission. As word spread about the struggle between the two artists, Molotov gained his third major meaning/context: the symbol between ownership and artistic freedom. Many artists around the world reproduced Molotov, in an act of solidarity against the idea of exerting control over artists’ use of imagery (Garnett and Meiselas, 54-55).

 
(tinjail after joy by Michael Sarff)

 
(Molotov Landscapes by Edward Tang)

An example of such an act of solidarity is Liz Sabater’s Joywar: The Distorted Molotov. You can hear the heat in the supporter’s voice as she describes the situation: “Joy Garnett’s Riot show are oil paintings of images sampled from newswires and other public news media. Now she is not only being sued by the photojournalist whose picture was sample in MOLOTOV but she is being asked to never show and never sell the artwork. This is obviously not a case of an artist protecting his speech rights but of one artist using his copyrights as a way to censor another artist. A sad case of Stockholm Syndrome if there ever was” (Sabater).

 
(Joywar: The Distorted Molotov by Liz Sabater)

Molotov Man has had three identities: a symbol of rebellion, an example of human emotion, and a symbol for artistic freedom. In each case, his meaning grows further from its original context. The question becomes for us, does this matter? Do artists have a responsibility to preserve the original context of an image or idea? Additionally, do they have the authority to determine other’s use of an idea? There are no simple answers to these questions.

Works Cited

Garnett, Joy. Molotov. 2003. Debs & Co., New York.

Garnett, Joy, and Meiselas, Susan. “On the Rights of Molotov Man.” Harper’s Magazine. Feb 2007: 53-58. Print.

Meiselas, Susan. Nicaragua. 1979. Web image. Magnumphotos.com. 5 March 2011.

Sabater, Liz. “Joywar: The Distorted Molotov.” Culturekitchen.com. n.p., 5 March 2004. Web. 5 March 2011.

Sabater, Liz. Joywar: The Distorted Molotov. 5 March 2004. Web image. Culturekitchen.com. 5 March 2011.

Sarff, Michael. Tinjail after joy. n.d. Web image. Tinjail.com. 5 March 2011.

Tang, Edward. Molotov Landscapes. 2004. Web image. Antiexperience.com. 5 March 2011.