September 1, 2025

Shipwreck Media: Crisis Ornaments and How to Read Them

Key Points

Shipwrecks are analyzed as media, providing insights into cultural and aesthetic inquiries amid crises.
Evidence from literature and photography illustrates the relationship between systemic crises and shipwreck events.
The study applies materialist media theory to discuss the implications of crisis ornaments in understanding history.
The findings indicate a significant link between media representation of disasters and the shaping of racial capitalism in Mauritius.

Abstract

abstract: On July 25, 2020, amid global COVID-19 lockdowns, the MV Wakashio ran aground off the coast of Mauritius. Drawing on a range of materialist media theory, this article analyzes shipwrecks as media. It revisits Siegfried Kracauer's concept of the mass ornament to approach shipwrecks as "crisis ornaments"—non-figurative and highly mediatized disasters that tend to abstract systemic crises. Examining photography, literature, and oil spills, the article explores how histories of racial capitalism have shaped Mauritius, demonstrating the value of improbable media objects in reconsidering the role of cultural and aesthetic inquiry in our current epoch.

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