Magnum Editions Poster: Kyrgyzstan, 2005

On March 24, 2005, after sporadic opposition protests and minor clashes with government supporters, demonstrators overrann riot police and stormed the Presidential Palace Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, ousting the Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev in what became known as the “Tulip Revolution”. Magnum photographer Thomas Dworzak covered the events. Though he photographed the dramatic scenes of revolution, the picture that holds most resonance for him was one taken the following day. The photograph shows the smashed window of a beauty parlor in Bishkek; the bullet holes are juxtaposed with a poster underneath that shows pouting red lips. “I like the second degree a little bit,” says Dworzak. “I had the straight-news pictures of people jumping up and down on the ousted president’s chair. I’d covered the real event properly and classically. But in a way that gave me the right to play around and do something else.” Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 2005.