Shipwreck Media: Crisis Ornaments and How to Read Them

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.