May 13, 1968

Caroline de Benden, a model and member of an arotstocratic British family, was snapped riding on the shoulders of a protester waving a Vietnamese FNL flag, during the Paris student protests of 1968. Upon seeing this picutre in Life magazine, her grandfather disinherited her. The '68 protests were one of the socio-cultural events of that year that prompted some major transitions in Western cultural life. The lack of repsonse to these student uprisings by the communist party contributed to Jean-Francois Lyotard's loss of beilef in ideology. Lyotard, one of the architects of postmodern thinking was just one person shaped by these moments in time.

This image may well have influenced Jaime Reid

Comments

[Jeff]

i happen to be in france at the moment and i can say that the phrase 'mai 68' is EVERYWHERE. i've even bought a couple of commemorative magazines for the pictures alone (i barely understand the language.) it's really reminded me what a 'hinge' era 1967-69 was. there were a lot of interesting, brave folks that just weren't having it. and it's made me wonder, where are those minds today? certainly there is as much if not more to be upset about? have the people in power succeeded in opiating the masses to the point of apathy? as barry would say, i've just begun thinking about this, a lot is left to ponder...