The Story Behind the Iconic ‘Tank Man’ Photo

9/07/2020 ISO 1200 Magazine 0 Comments

Legendary Magnum photographer Stuart Franklin talks to us about his famous ‘Tank Man’ image of a single man standing in front of a line of tanks, symbolizing the uprising that happened at Tiananmen Square in 1989. It’s become a ubiquitous image in the West of the pro-democracy protests, but in China, it’s like it’s been airbrushed out of history.

Even getting the rollout of China was trickly, it was smuggled out in a box of tea by a French student heading for Paris. Stuart Franklin talks us through the events leading up to the photo and how it went on to be considered one of the greatest images of the 20th Century.

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