How does Molotov Man elucidate its Original image?
By Meiselas's account,I took the picture... in Nicaragua, which had been ruled by the Somoza family since before World War II. The FSLN, popularly known as the Sandinistas, had opposed that regime since the early Sixties.... I made the image in question on July 16, 1979, the eve of the day that Somoza would flee Nicaragua forever. What is happening is anything but a "riot." In fact, the man is throwing his bomb at a Somoza national guard garrison, one of the last such garrisons remaining in Somoza's hands. It was an important moment in the history of Nicaragua--the Sandinistas would soon take power and hold that power for another decade--and this image ended up representing that moment for a long time to come.The image was first published in Meiselas's Nicaragua, June 1978--July 1979.However, it was subsequently widely reproduced in both pro- and anti-Sandinista propaganda and art. Meiselas herself exhibited the photograph in Nicaragua, along with others from the same collection in 1999, during the 20th anniversary of the revolution.
Sandinista