Kodak deletes post by French photographer who calls China's Xinjiang ‘Orwellian Dystopia’

American photography company Kodak recently deleted an Instagram post featuring ims of Xinjiang, taken by a French photographer who described Chinese region as 'an Orwellian dystopia'. According to ANI, w-deleted im was taken from documentary photographer Patrick Wack’s new collection of pictures captured in China’s rthwestern region from 2016 to 2020. photo company apologised for sharing 10 of Wack’s ims and for a post written by photographer in which he described work as a 'visual narrative of region and is a testimony to its abrupt descent into an Orwellian dystopia'.

Kodak apologised for any 'misunderstanding' that post might have caused. In a statement, company said, “Content from photographer Patrick Wack was recently posted on this Instagram p. content of post was provided by photographers and was t authored by Kodak”. 

“Kodak's Instagram p is intended to enable creativity by providing a platform for promoting medium of film. It is t intended to be a platform for political commentary,” statement added. 

Wack’s post featured detention of Uyghur Muslims. In caption, Wack had said that region has been at centre of an international outcry following mass incarceration of its Uyghur population and or Muslim mirities. He even added that this body of work captures a visual narrative of region and is a testimony to its abrupt descent into an 'Orwellian dystopia'. 

Xinjiang dispute 

Meanwhile, this incident comes amid growing calls among some western states for an investigation into wher Beijing’s actions in Xinjiang amount to gecide. US, Britain and Canada have described China’s policies in Xinjiang as 'gecide'. However, Chinese government has rejected allegations and characterised camps, which it says are w closed, as vocational training centres to teach Chinese langu, job skills and law in order to support ecomic development and combat extremism.  

rights groups, on or hand, accused Beijing of forcibly sterilising women and imposing forced labour. European Union, Britain, Canada and United States have sanctioned several members of Xinjiang’s political and ecomic hierarchy in coordinated action over allegations. US State Department estimates that since 2017, up to two million Uyghurs, Kazakhs and or ethnic mirities could have passed through camp system, which China calls vocational training centres designed to fight extremism. Reports by Western media have also revealed that Chinese authorities were deliberately sending Uyghur women of childbearing into forced abortions, intrauterine injections and sterilisation in region.

(Im: Instagram/AP)