Perhaps a little background and history is required here.

I have always been slightly uncomfortable with Phan Thị Kim Phúc's image in the 'Napalm' screenprint and the subsequent 'Can't Beat The Feeling' canvas commissioned by Hirst. Although the irony of the juxtaposition in those pieces is clear, the use of Kim Phúc is also flippant and, arguably, disrespectful.

Let's weigh it all up.

Kim Phúc suffered from severe and life-threatening burns following a napalm attack. Although permanently scarred, she survived from her injuries following close to 20 surgical operations. During the same attack, many of her fellow villagers and a couple of her family members were killed.

Years later, Kim Phúc escaped from the communist and then totalitarian regime of Vietnam. She defected, sought and was granted political asylum in Canada, a democratic and capitalist country which no doubt represented to her the freedom she never had in her own country.

Nick Ut's 1972 photograph of Kim Phúc running naked down a road screaming and burning is one of the most recognised photos of the Vietnam War. For many people, it symbolises the horrors of that war. For Kim Phúc, it is a very personal reminder of the physical and psychological trauma she and her family experienced first hand, during the Vietnam War itself and probably during its aftermath once the country was reunified under communist rule and hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese were sent to 'reeducation camps' (one of the most brilliant euphemisms ever coined).

The context of Ut's photograph is then turned on its head when Banksy cuts out Kim Phúc's image and slaps it down next to Ronald and Mickey as an ironic comment on capitalism, consumerism and globalisation.

fourputt - If you were in Kim Phúc's position, would you, given her background, be happy to sign a 'Napalm' print that was shoved under your nose?

This situation is not the same as, say, asking Kate Moss to sign a Banksy 'Kate' screenprint. It is more akin to asking the lone protester who stood up to the tanks near Tiananmen Square in 1989 to sign a copy of 'Golf Sale'. Oh. That's right. He can't. He was probably tortured and then executed.

WOW, I knew there would be some backlash to my post, but it was a completely rhetorical question. As I said in the original post. I would never do it. For those who negged me, bravo, you certainly have taught me a lesson! I thought forums were for the open trade of thoughts and discussion. I guess I should just stick to asking questions about which framer to use or post pics of my horribly framed prints.

I must be alone in thinking that her image should never be in a print, no matter what the message being conveyed is???

Wikipedia has a fair account of the background:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguyen_Ngoc_Loan

I should add that the execution of the Viet Cong prisoner was not related to the death of any Americans.

you spent your time trying to help tintin, im sure thats what the respect system is meant to be for.If someone goes out of there way to type info when its asked of them a +1 is deserved i think.