THE ICONOGRAPHY OF MIGRATION THROUGH A MULTIMODAL CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS LENS: THE CUTRO SHIPWRECK CASE

The shipwreck of a wooden boat carrying approximately 200 migrants from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan who were illegally approaching the Italian coast occurred during a stormy night off the coast of Steccato di Cutro, Italy, in February 2023 causing the death of 94 migrants, including several children. On the following days, the rough seas returned dead bodies, remains of the boat, alongside personal belongings. The news was reported extensively and commented on in international newspapers and powerfully showcased different ways of representing migration through visual images. Some months later, an art exhibition was unveiled in Cutro commemorating the event. This paper intends to analyse the visual narratives surrounding the Cutro shipwreck through the lens of Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (Machin & Mayr, 2012; Statham, 2022) to unpack the ideology conveyed by a small corpus of photos of the shipwreck published in international online media. Grounding the analysis on iconography (Barthes 1977; Clark 2020) and on the grammar of visual texts (Baldry, Thibault 2006; Kress, van Leeuwen 2006) the paper reflects on the strategies and practices of classification used in the photos to represent migrants (van Leeuwen 2008), exploring the classification (Machin, van Leeuwen 2007) of migrants to see if it preserves or challenges stereotypes about migration. In conclusion, the paper dwells on the multisemiotic metaphorical implications of “Symbolon”, a work of art that perpetuates the memory of the tragic event.