What happens when we are frequently barraged with images of human suffering? What happens when these images are mediated through culture at such a large scale?

The images from Abu Ghraib are a perfect example of this. What was once, for a brief moment, shocking and appalling is now simply another set of images linked to America’s never ending imperial conquests, another addition to an article of the 100 most impactful photographs ever taken. Are we so preoccupied with what these images depict that we fail to see what led to them? 

Walter Benjamin, in Theses on the Philosophy of History writes “To articulate the past historically does not mean to recognize it ‘the way it really was’ (Ranke). It means to seize hold of a memory as it flashes up at a moment of danger.” Abu Ghraib is what flashes at the moment of danger. It flashes because it is exactly what brought us to where we are now. It represents the last 43 years of American history perfectly.

 The images of Abu Ghraib have shifted. They have been broken down, reimagined, turned into icons. The New York Times cleansed these images of their ideology, turning ideological violence into just violence. This work is presenting them as they should be, making them lead out instead of in.

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