Interacting with Empathy: Migrant narrative in the context of mobile apps

This paper explores two main mobile app narratives that deal with the issue of perilous irregular migration, 'Survival' (2017, Omnium Lab) and 'Bury me, my love' (2017, The Pixel Hunt, Figs, ARTE France). This paper explores the way in which the mobile app form lends itself to elevation of migrant narratives and explores the capacity of such works to generate empathy.
The paper will analyse the way in which migration and its subjects are treated and placed into relation with the notion of the game. The paper will also address the comparison between game-style apps and other online modes whereby migrant experience is being represented, such as that of humanitarian photojournalism and portraiture as it arises in social media apps, such as Instagram.

(Source: Author's own abstract)