Dominique Baqué on the Photographic Image of Migrant Drownings

In the December 2015 issue of artpress (no. 428, pp. 86-87), Dominique Baqué reflects on the public's desensitization to images of migrant deaths at sea. The article notes that everyone was aware of the makeshift rafts washing up off Lampedusa and Greek islands, carrying people from war-torn countries like Syria, Eritrea, and Afghanistan. Thousands drowned before indifferent eyes, worn out by global misery—an erosion of compassion. Baqué examines how photography mediates this crisis, questioning the ethical and emotional impact of such imagery.