Disaster Girl

Examples

White-haired horned cartoon character smirks in front of the burning house; visible @TehHank signature.

Disaster Girl crossover artwork

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Fire/disaster imagery.

Credit & details

No visible caption — White-haired horned cartoon character smirks in front of the burning house; visible @TehHank signature.

Visible signature @TehHank; Base photograph credited to Dave Roth.

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Just as I planned...

Just as I planned

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Fire/disaster imagery.

Credit & details

Just as I planned...

Base photograph: Dave Roth.

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Zoe Roth is composited in front of an illustration of the sinking Titanic.

Disaster Girl on the Titanic

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Fire/disaster imagery.

Credit & details

No visible caption — Zoe Roth is composited in front of an illustration of the sinking Titanic.

Base photograph: Dave Roth.

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Zoe Roth is composited beside a man overlooking a city skyline.

Disaster Girl in the city

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Fire/disaster imagery.

Credit & details

No visible caption — Zoe Roth is composited beside a man overlooking a city skyline.

Base photograph: Dave Roth.

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About & sources

A knowing smile is transplanted into scenes of catastrophe.

Date

Dave Roth photographed Zoe during a fire drill in January 2005; uploaded in 2007; blog remix spread in 2008.

History

Dave Roth photographed his daughter Zoë in Mebane, North Carolina, during a controlled burn for firefighter training—not a fire she caused. In her 2020 interview, Zoë confirmed January 2005 and recalled watching with her family. A 2007 photo-contest entry preceded the 2008 disaster-scene remixes. She emphasized that captions using her face do not necessarily reflect her opinions. In that interview, she also described collecting foreign-language versions and feeling uneasy when reports reused her current Instagram photographs without asking. In April 2021, she told UNC Media Hub, in a report published by The News & Observer, that selling an NFT gave her a sense of agency after years of uncontrolled sharing. She sought advice from fellow meme subjects Laina Morris and Kyle Craven; Nyan Cat creator Chris Torres provided a Foundation invitation. The April 17 auction sold the token for 180 Ether. The family sold the NFT while retaining copyright: the transaction did not give its buyer ownership of every copy or permission for everyone else to reuse the photograph. Earlier interview: https://knowyourmeme.com/editorials/interviews/zoe-roth-explains-what-it-was-like-growing-up-as-disaster-girl-and-how-the-meme-impacted-her-over-the-last-15-years

The News & Observer / UNC Media Hub · Roth family interview (2021)
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Disaster Girl representative image