Drowned Syrian Boy Symbolizes Refugee Crisis Sweeping Europe

When a 3-year-old Syrian-Kurdish boy from Kobani drowned in the Mediterranean, his image came to symbolize the tragedy of the refugee crisis sweeping Europe. #KiyiyaVuranInsanlik (“Humanity washed ashore”) went viral as the harrowing photo was shared. At AJ+, we agonized about how to cover this story without sharing his image and having it traumatically pop up into people’s social media feeds. I pitched the idea of drawing it, which provided some remove from and respect for the drowned boy and the traumatic moment.