Guerrillero Heroico

A 1960 photograph by Alberto Korda depicting Che Guevara, later widely reproduced as an image of revolutionary iconography.

Alberto Korda: Cuban photographer Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez, known professionally as Alberto Korda, made the photograph in 1960. Korda made the image while covering a memorial gathering in Havana.
Photography: The practice of making images by recording light, usually with a camera. Korda’s portrait became influential through photographic reproduction.
Che Guevara: An Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary who became a leading figure in the Cuban Revolution and later fought in other countries. He is the subject whose likeness became the photograph’s defining symbol.
Political poster: A printed image or text designed to communicate a political message in public settings. The photograph’s poster versions became tools for expressing revolutionary sympathies.
Political icon: A person or image widely recognized as representing a political cause or identity. The portrait became a visual shorthand for revolutionary politics.
La Coubre explosion: A 1960 explosion aboard the French ship La Coubre in Havana killed more than 100 people. The memorial for its victims was the occasion when Korda photographed Guevara.
Image cropping: The removal of parts of an image’s frame to alter its composition or emphasis. Later versions isolated Guevara’s face and beret from the original photograph.
Fidel Castro: Cuban revolutionary leader who headed the government established after the 1959 revolution. Castro and Guevara appeared together at the memorial where Korda made the portrait.
Protest art: Art made to oppose policies, institutions, or social conditions and to encourage political action. Activists have used the portrait as a shorthand for resistance.
Visual culture: The images and visual practices through which societies produce and interpret meaning. The photograph’s changing contexts show how images acquire meanings beyond their origins.

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