SUPERHISTORY: Indonesian Artist Photoshops Comic Book Superheroes Into Historical Photos
When he started this project, Indonesian artist Agan Harahap‘s SUPERHISTORY – at first glance – seemed like a tongue-in-cheek play on the sombre realities of war. After all, how are you supposed to react when you see Spider-Man alongside American soldiers engaged in street skirmish along Avenue de Paris during World War II; the Hulk joining Afghan resistance fighters returning to a village destroyed by Soviet forces in 1986; V for Vendetta’s V leading Wehrmacht soldiers to surrender with their hands in the air; and even Darth Vader leaving behind a group of dead Viet Cong in Saigon, 1968?
Haharap, who declares that he “loves history,” believes that by inserting pop culture characters into photographs of historic world events, he forces us to rethink history and the way we remember the past.
Spider-Man joins American soldiers engaged in street fighting at the Avenue de Paris, Cherbourg-Normandy in 1944
Batman gives the order of the Day: ‘Full victory-nothing else !’ to paratroopers in England at Greenham Common Airfield in England about on June 5, 1944; just before they board their airplanes to participate in the first assault in the invasion of the continent of Europe.
Superman poses with soldiers from the 7th US Army, as they carry the priceless artworks down the steps of Meunschwanstein Castle in 1945; where hoards of European art treasures, stolen by the Nazis, were hidden during World War II.
The Hulk joins Afghan resistance fighters returning to a village destroyed by Soviet forces in 1986
Batman and Fidel Castro at the MATS Terminal, Washington, 1959
On 25 April 1945, the Flash witnesses the captivity of German soldiers following the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht that went into effect on 8 May 1945. Some Wehrmacht units remained active, either independently (e.g. in Norway), or under Allied command as police forces. However, by the end of August 1945, these units had been dissolved, and a year later on 20 August 1946, the Allied Control Council declared the Wehrmacht as officially abolished
V for Vendetta’s V leads Wehrmacht soldiers to surrender with their hands in the air, at Taret de Ravenoville on June 9, 1944.
Jarringly, Captain America joins Heinrich Himmler to inspect a prisoner-of-war camp in Russia, near Minsk in 1941. Either that, or Haharap presciently anticipated the 2017 Secret Empire story arc!
Darth Vader leaving behind a group of dead Viet Cong in Saigon, 1968.
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