Abdul, 42, farmer
Abdul had only ever used his Dodge Ram Turbo Diesel to transport crops,
sheep and goats before he decided to convert it into a gilla (or Technical) – an
improvised fighting vehicle. After two days of modifications to his pick-up,
Abdul was ready to head for the front line, where he is on duty for 12 hours at a time.
“When I am on the front line I am not scared; I am only scared of Allah. In
the future I dream of being free, and then we will see about the rest.”
UB-32 57MM Rocket Pod
Originally attached to Soviet Mi-24 helicopters, this pod can be attached
to a Technical and still fire its 32 rockets, although there is no way to aim
them effectively. Their already low accuracy is further diminished when firing
from an improvised platform in an unintended role. Therefore, such systems
proved little more than curiosities in regular armies.
Dodge Ram Turbo Diesel pick-up (gilla, or Technical)
From Afghanistan to Sudan to Libya, the Toyota Hilux pick-up is the favored vehicle
for making Technicals. In the 1987 Libya-Chad war, Chadian Technical drivers
discovered that if a Hilux is driven through a minefield at over 100 kilometers
an hour, it won’t detonate the mines. And the open-back is perfect for all sorts of weaponry.
“We never approach an image with a blank mind but with a mind already primed
with memories, knowledge, prejudices.”
John A. Walker
The Bigger Picture is the photography blog where you can enjoy big photos,
like you can rarely find on the Web, and learn more about their contexts by zooming
in on selected details of the photos and read facts, curious information, anecdotes
about them. The Bigger Picture plays with the relationship between the picture and its
bigger picture, and wants to make you stay more on a picture, engage with it, think about it.
Curated by Mauro Bedoni, website developed by Defrost Studio.
Abdul, 42, farmer, coming back from the frontline with Waled in his modified
pick-up truck near Ajdabiya, Libya. June 1, 2011. Photo by James Mollison.
On February 15, 2011, Libyans began to protest against Qaddafi’s 41-year-old
dictatorship. Qaddafi’s response was to send his army to attack the protesters.
In response the civilian population began to arm itself and fight back. According
to several sources, the figures of casualties of rebel and loyalist forces are similar.
"In May when Qaddafi had gone into hiding, I travelled with an assistant
to photograph the trucks. We set up the camera at the last check point, on the
road to the front line, where my assistant ran out to stop them, before they went
into battle."
– James Mollison