Constructing,confirming,and contesting icons: the Alan Kurdi imagery appropriated by #humanitywashedashore,Ai Weiwei,and Charlie Hebdo

Abstract

This article argues that appropriations are central to the production and reception of visual icons: appropriations are instrumental in iconization processes as they confirm and consolidate the iconic status by recycling the image in question. Moreover, appropriations are vital to their reception as they help shape and delimit the publics and discourses surrounding visual icons. This article draws on existing research on icons and appropriations to develop a theoretical framework for how appropriations construct, confirm, and contest icons and how personification constitutes the main link between icons and their appropriations. Three sets of appropriations are analyzed of the iconic imagery of Alan Kurdi, the refugee boy drowning in the Mediterranean Sea in 2015. First, the numerous appropriations circulated under the Twitter hashtag #humanitywashedashore. Based on genre analysis of these appropriations, two overall modes are singled out: the appropriations decontextualize or recontextualize the figure of Kurdi. The two next analytical cases test the limits of decontextualization and recontextualization: Chinese artist Ai Weiwei decontextualizes the Kurdi imagery in a controversial reenactment, while a series of cartoons by French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo inserted the photo into contested contexts to critique why and how this imagery was turned into an icon.

Keywords

#humanietywashedashore Ai Weiwei Alan Kurdi appropriations decontextualization icons recontextualization refugee crisis

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