Levinson, Photo Discussion Assignment

This photo, taken by Turkish photojournalist Nilufer Demir in September 2015, depicts the dead body of Aylan Kurdi on the shore of Bodrum, Turkey near a resort. He was three years old at the time. Kurdi and his brother, who also died in the expedition, were part of a group of Syrian refugees sailing to Kos, a Greek island, to escape the war in their country.

This photo went viral on social media, mainly Twitter, along with the hashtag “humanity washed ashore” and brought attention to the humanitarian crisis in Syria. Up until this point, there was not a lot of discussion or knowledge about the situation in mainstream news. NPR found that searches for “Syria” or “refugees” were not popular but spiked once the photo was publicized. The Swedish Red Cross, which raises funds for Syrian refugees, said the daily amount of donations was 55 times greater than the week before the photo existed. Also, more people opted to sign up for repeated donations going from around 100 in August to over 1,000 by the following month.

The photo also appealed to people’s emotional side as they took to social media to share their discontent for poor treatment and environments that immigrants face. The main question raised was asking parents how they would feel if that was their child lying dead on the beach, sparking a sense of empathy and support for Syrian refugees, as well as all other refugees, fleeing dangerous situations in their homeland and embarking on life-threatening trips to find a better life for their families.