The transformative image. The power of a photograph for social change: The death of Aylan

Abstract

This paper focuses on the role of the image as an agent for social transformation. The methodology adopted is a case study: the impact of the photograph of Aylan Kurdi, the three-year-old child drowned off Bodrum in an attempt to escape on a raft full of Syrian migrants. This is one of the most widely seen social photojournalism documents in recent times, and it had a huge impact on social media. The study applies an iconographic, iconological and ethical analysis to reveal the constituent parts of an image with the power for social change. In its main conclusions, this paper describes the potential for easy resignification of the digital graphic image as it symbolically transforms reality, and the power it has to generate processes of pronouncement and activism among citizens in digital environments. The results of the case study show that the value of an image for social change is achieved not only by the magnitude of the tragedy itself and the information that it registers, or by its formal aspects (iconographic), but mainly by being able to express a change of logic (iconological aspects) and to promote processes of reappropriation and denunciation. The ethical debate on dissemination shifts the problem from journalistic ethics to citizen responsibility. Este trabajo plantea el papel de la imagen como agente de transformación social. La metodología que se emplea es un estudio de caso sobre el impacto de la fotografía de Aylan Kurdi, el niño de tres años ahogado en el intento de huida en una balsa de inmigrantes sirios en Bodrum. Se trata de uno de los documentos recientes de fotoperiodismo social más difundidos transnacionalmente y con gran impacto en redes sociales. El estudio aborda diferentes niveles de análisis (iconográfico, iconológico y ético) para decapar los aspectos constitutivos de una imagen con poder de cambio social. Como principales conclusiones, esta investigación comprueba el poder de la imagen gráfica digital por su carácter de fácil reedición y resignificación en el paso de transformar simbólicamente la realidad y generar procesos de pronunciamiento y activismo en la ciudadanía a partir de entornos digitales. Los resultados del análisis del caso que se delimita muestran cómo el valor de una imagen en el cambio social no viene dado solo por la magnitud de la tragedia o el hecho que registra, ni por sus aspectos formales (iconográficos), sino por ser capaz de expresar un cambio de lógica (aspecto iconológico) y propiciar procesos de reapropiación y denuncia ciudadana. Por último, el debate ético sobre su difusión traslada el problema de la deontología periodística a la responsabilidad ciudadana.

Narratives of the Refugee Crisis: A Comparative Study of Mainstream-Media and Twitter

“…Twitter offered an alternative and multifaceted narrative, not bound by geo-politics, to that created by the traditional media. Our study underlines the important role of social media in transforming narratives by creating awareness and calling for solidarity and empathy towards those affected (De Andrés et. al, 2016).…”

“…The images of Aylan's lifeless body have arguably been the most poignant and powerful images to surface in the media at the peak of the Syrian refugee crisis in 2015. The transformative power and iconic potential of Aylan's images have been recognized and emphasized by many, with studies finding that narratives of threat and harm elicited by these images were later related to expressions of solidarity with refugees (Smith, McGarty, & Thomas, 2018), that the images offered different actors in the refugee debate with new symbols and themes to construct meaning (Bozdag & Smets, 2017), and that the image of Aylan had value as an agent for social change (De Andrés, Nos Aldas, & García Matilla, 2016).…”

Machine Vision and Social Media Images: Why Hashtags Matter

“…We expand on research based on news images as empirical material, which, for the case of Twitter, makes sense: as Nerghes and Lee (2019) argue, a complete separation of mainstream news media and Twitter is no longer viable, as "the sharing and discussing of news between news outlets and Twitter users is a genuine bi-directional exchange" (p. 277). News outlets and social media actors co-create narratives, whereby, as Nerghes and Lee found in their comparative analysis of mainstream media and Twitter, social media create new spaces that transform narratives by creating awareness and calling for solidarity toward those affected (De Andrés et al, 2016).…”