Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to identify, describe and analyze the content, meanings, and function of the visual narratives about environmental devastation, and examine the role new media technologies have in the shaping of new social movements in Serbia.

Paper long abstract:

In Serbia, in the last few years, the issue of environmental devastation has gained great importance, especially with the growing trend of privatization of natural resources, foreign investment in the new and old mining sites, and the social, cultural, and environmental catastrophe that inevitably follows. That resulted in the establishment of many novel (in)formal local environmental organizations, with a strong social media presence, dedicated to raising environmental awareness in the general public and calling for social and political change. One way of communicating their messages and informing the wider public about ecological problems and future environmental devastation is by creating visually appealing (but also disturbing) digitally manipulated images. In these digitally created and shared images catastrophic consequences of ecologically disastrous projects (such as the planned Rio Tinto mine and the construction of run-of-the-river SHPPs) are visualized. This paper aims to identify, describe and analyze the content, meanings, and function of these visual narratives about fear and hope, pessimism and activism, and to critically evaluate messages about (post)apocalyptic environmentalism.