Whether they depict historic situations like the attempt on Donald’s Trump’s life or major global events such as the Olympics, images that capture special moments and emotions remain in our minds for years and shape our collective memory. To make an impression these days, they should be memeable.

Ever since the attack on Donald Trump, when pictures of the former president with a bloodied face and raised fist filled front pages around the world, the talk has once again been of iconic images. This image in particular is said to have the potential to achieve iconic status. Only time will tell which images will actually go down in history as “iconic”. There are, however, a few characteristics these images have in common.

Iconic images are more than mere snapshots. They’re like a kind of visual time capsule that captures significant historical events, cultural movements or emotional moments and freezes them in a single image. It’s the maximum reduction of an entire story to a single image. And it’s precisely this ability that explains why – despite the increasing focus on the moving image – still images retain their capacity to achieve this social significance.

Photos influence public perception

Even though many of these photos are journalistic in nature and were taken for the purpose of documentation, in most cases it’s not just about the documentary value of the image. Examples include the famous image of the raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima or the photo of “Napalm Girl” from the Vietnam War which I wrote about in a previous post. These images tell stories that go beyond their immediate meaning. The Vietnam photo no longer just represents this specific napalm attack on a village; it has become a symbol of the horror of the Vietnam War.

Such images have the power to shape public perceptions and often remain deeply embedded in the collective memory. The image of Trump is already seen as emblematic of his fighting spirit in a polarised political landscape. Either way, it will shape the collective memory of the assassination attempt.

Great symbolic power across generations

But these historical symbols in the form of images aren’t necessarily tied to the technology of photography. They existed long before that – in the form of works of art. Biblical scenes, often depicted in a similar fashion in paintings or sculptures, shaped the way these stories were told and conveyed messages across generations. Along with the depiction of the crucifixion of Christ, Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper is also one of the most important pictorial symbols of an entire culture. It unifies the social perception of a written history.

The great symbolic power of such individual images was evident at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris. Precisely this scene, imprinted over generations, was recreated in a short sequence that was part of the four-hour show. But instead of Jesus and his disciples, the protagonists were queer people. The subsequent outcry in religious circles and the media debate about it was only possible because the image itself is so ingrained in society. No matter who re-enacted the scene, everyone watching TV understood the reference.

Modern iconic images should be memeable

Whether it will really be this image that’s associated with Paris 2024 in the long term remains to be seen. Perhaps it will be images from the sporting competitions. But even if it is, it will probably not be the winners with their medals, but the special photos. Like the surfer who jumped spectacularly off his board for photographers, giving the impression that he was floating in front of it. Or the Turkish pistol shooter who nonchalantly kept his hand in his pocket and, unlike his competitors, managed without any technical aids at all and won silver with his colleague.

These two photos have something in common that in the social media age is more important than in the past: they’re memeable. In other words, they’re suitable as memes on the internet and thus have the potential to be shared thousands of times over and become a viral hit. This is something that many companies would also like to achieve with their images and online content. However, it’s not really plannable, especially not in a positive context. Provocation is easy, but to create truly meaningful, iconic images, you need not only the right situation but also a certain amount of luck.