This article investigates the role of social media platforms in the visual representation of the Bucha massacre perpetrated by Russian forces during the aggression against Ukraine in 2022. By considering the interconnectedness of the online and offline spheres, the authors explore the impact of social media on the coverage of the massacre. The study focuses on a comprehensive analysis of 6,185 images disseminated on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram between 29 March and 15 September 2022. Through an analysis of the intricate dynamics between war crimes, visual representations and social media platforms, the article invites contemplation on how digital artifacts shape our collective understanding of historical atrocities.
In the hazy anthropocene era, which M. Chaberski (2019) understood as a serious epistemological crisis, even wider than the climate crisis, visuality plays a very important role -it becomes a vector for visibility and invisibility of discursive and non-discursive practices. The spirit of new materialism has developed a number of concepts, which emphasized non-linguistic ways of shaping meanings and interpretations of reality, and at the same time appreciated non-humans agencies. The article is constructed around the thesis "visual is material," because in the end every representation refers to the materials, on which our world is build. We can treat this thesis as a political statement, following J. Ranciere observations, that the thought is material (2007). We would like to analyze the significance of materiality by taking a look at media art practices. We can sink into the thicket of connections between materials and track the journey of things, not focusing on the final effect (manufactured item), but rather on manufacturing process (Ingold 2019; Deleuze, Guattari 2015). ; In the hazy anthropocene era, which M. Chaberski (2019) understood as a serious epistemological crisis, even wider than the climate crisis, visuality plays a very important role -it becomes a vector for visibility and invisibility of discursive and non-discursive practices. The spirit of new materialism has developed a number of concepts, which emphasized non-linguistic ways of shaping meanings and interpretations of reality, and at the same time appreciated non-humans agencies. The article is constructed around the thesis "visual is material," because in the end every representation refers to the materials, on which our world is build. We can treat this thesis as a political statement, following J. Ranciere observations, that the thought is material (2007). We would like to analyze the significance of materiality by taking a look at media art practices. We can sink into the thicket of connections between materials and track the journey of things, not focusing on the final effect (manufactured item), but rather on manufacturing process (Ingold 2019; Deleuze, Guattari 2015).
