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G7 photo duel between image-conscious world leaders
LA MALBAIE, Canada, June 10, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The G7 summit was coming down
to the wire. The leaders of the world’s richest democracies had promised some
kind of compromise statement despite their deep divisions on trade.
Donald Trump is seated amid a crowd of officials. Across a narrow table,
Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron are standing, holding copies of a draft
text, arguing for their position.
One key moment in a two-day meeting. Five official photos. Five opposing
stories.
The first view outsiders got of the scene came at 10.45am, when White House
spokeswoman Sarah Sanders released a photo taken inside the room.
In the US version, we see Donald Trump face on, apparently calm, leaning
back confidently with a skeptical almost sarcastic air, his arms crossed in a
rebuff to the other leaders, bent towards him pleadingly.
Ten minutes later, the French president’s office responded with a quite
different view of the very same scene.
Taken from the opposing angle, the French photo shows Macron negotiating
with his American counterpart, gesticulating to make a point. The other
leaders have fixed him with their regard, apparently fascinated.
Merkel’s face is hidden by a neighboring official’s head.
This would not stand, and when Merkel’s press team responded they brought
the big guns.
Taken by Jezco Denzel, a photographer working the German government and
winner of a category award in this year’s prestigious World Press Photo
award, the German picture shows Merkel dominant.
Her fists planted on the table, she looms above an apparently nervous
Trump, looking up at her and listening without response. Macron is masked by
the crowd, Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May invisible.
Something about the photo caught the imagination of the web, and it was the
German version that went viral, popping up all over social media, sometimes
in its original form sometimes altered for humorous or satirical ends.
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Italian premier Giuseppe Conte’s version when it came was relatively
humble, perhaps reflecting that he has been in the jobs for fewer than three
full days.
He is seen from behind, clutching a document, addressing Merkel and Macron.
So it fell to the hosts, Canada, to have the final word in the war of the
images, releasing their picture just after 2:00pm on Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau’s account.
As befits his role as annual chairman of the G7, and perhaps Canada’s
tradition of peacekeeping operations, the picture is taken from the side,
impartially showing Trump dealing with his counterparts as equals.
All appear to be working in tandem to resolve their differences — albeit
under the keen but paternal eye of Trudeau, appearing in the figure of a
referee.
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