Too dead? Image analyses of humanitarian photos of the Kurdi brothers. Issue 1 (1st January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mattus, Maria
• Is Part Of: Visual studies. Volume 35:Issue 1(2020)
• Page Start: 51
• Page End: 64
• Publication Date: 2020-01-01
• Subjects: Visual perception -- Periodicals; Visual anthropology -- Periodicals; Visual sociology -- Periodicals; 301
• DOI: 10.1080/1472586X.2020.1731325
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1472-586X

Abstract

Abstract : Alan and Galip Kurdi, aged three and five years respectively, drowned in the Mediterranean in 2015. The name of one of these brothers became profoundly imprinted in people's minds as a symbol of the refugee crisis, while the other's name barely was noticed at all and now seems totally forgotten. After being washed ashore at a Turkish tourist resort, the bodies were documented by the photojournalist Nilüfer Demir. The images went viral, and mainstream news media broke a long-lasting social taboo by publishing some of them to evoke people's emotions. Despite quite similar circumstances, why did the images of Alan Kurdi become iconic, while the images of Galip did not attract public attention in the same way? This study focuses on four images of the brothers, which are examined using a semiotic framework derived from Barthes and Mitchell. The results suggest that there is a fine line between generating a deeper understanding of the plight of migrant children in Europe and causing even more distance to the objects. Obviously Galip was not worthy of the same degree of compassion as his younger brother, for instance, because his images were more gloomy, lacking any glimmer of hope; Galip seemed 'too' dead.