Mediatization, polarization, and intolerance (between environments, media, and circulation)

Image in circulation: shattering of the gaze and memory 183 3. The imaginary weaved by the social: children in conflict Talking about AylanKurdi does not even seemnecessary. The mere mention of the name of the Syrian boy found with his face turned to the clear sands of the Turkish sea (if he was found that way, given the countless images that discuss the possible adulteration of the body’s “finding” place) already triggers our vi - sual and affective memory. Produced by the lens of photographer Nulifer Demir, the image that, in a few seconds conquered Twitter trending topics, was the cover of, practically, all journalistic pub- lications in the world, becoming a symbol of the Syrian tragedy 7 from the moment it started to restrict access to other images or to link itself, as an emblem or decal, on other videos and photo- graphs that refer to the situation of the immigration crisis, even when the veracity of the image is put to the test or questioned. However, Kurdi conquered a unique space in the me- dia imagination. His image is not just a photograph of a journal- istic record of an event; indeed, journalism lives less and less on events records. Pepe Baeza (2004) already warned of this photojournalism crisis, in the sense that there is another type of visual journalism emerging. Without entering this clash, the boy’s photograph shows a set of mediatization operations, or- chestrated both by the media and social actors and institutions. It is interesting to investigate what types of operations come into play in this case, as some of them have different durations. We can consider that, at first, Aylan Kurdi’s image was produced for circulation, which already demonstrates a logic that extrapo- lates the journalistic making of the report but is able to think of strategies to make such an image visible to the point of “ galva- nizing the world 8 .” In a second moment, the image caused social commotion and was replicated and appropriated by artists and illustrators, who reinserted the image in circulation, prolonging its visibility and, therefore, its posthumous life span. 7 The discussion on the symbolic or synthesis-image role of Aylan Kurdi’s case may be seen in ROSA (2017). 8 The expression was used by the father of another boy found dead at the beach in Myanmar, referring to Aylan Kurdi’s image as a symbol-image.