2014年夏天——伊斯兰国占领了伊拉克第二大城市摩苏尔；占领了叙利亚东部大片地区；并宣布自己为近代哈里发国——这标志着摄影史上的一个转折点，将其与现实之间本已存在争议的关系推向了极限。
伊斯兰国对叙事、图像管理和品牌塑造有着独特的痴迷，在其哈里发的形成时期，它使用相机作为武器。这段时间拍摄的数万张宣传照片被用来表示政策，在失败中导航，也许最重要的是，用来构建一个不可能的现实：一个由萨拉菲圣战者符号和神话组成的总体形象世界。
根据2017年查理·温特从伊斯兰国的秘密网络在线收集的20000张照片的深入研究，本书探讨了哈里发撼动现代战争摄影基础的过程。温特将重点放在它最强大的时期，他指出了支撑哈里发意识形态吸引力的隐性价值体系，并评估了它对摄影图像历史的独特恶意贡献。恐怖分子的形象深入到伊斯兰国鼎盛时期的核心，为其全球吸引力和动员成功提供了独特的见解。
The Terrorist Image: Decoding the Islamic State’s Photo-Propaganda
The summer of 2014–when the Islamic State seized Mosul, Iraq’s second city; captured vast swathes of eastern Syria; and declared itself a latter-day Caliphate–marked a turning point in the history of photography, one that pushed its already contested relationship with reality to its very limits.
Uniquely obsessed with narrative, image management and branding, the Islamic State used cameras as weapons in its formative years as a Caliphate. The tens of thousands of propaganda photographs captured during this time were used to denote policy, to navigate through defeat and, perhaps most importantly, to construct an impossible reality: a totalising image-world of Salafi-Jihadist symbols and myths.
Based on a deep examination of the 20,000 photographs Charlie Winter collected from the Islamic State’s covert networks online in 2017, this book explores the process by which the Caliphate shook the foundations of modern war photography. Focusing on the period in which it was at its strongest, Winter identifies the implicit value systems that underpinned the Caliphate’s ideological appeal, and evaluates its uniquely malign contribution to the history of the photographic image. The Terrorist Image travels to the heart of what made the Islamic State tick during its prime, providing unique insights into its global appeal and mobilisation successes.
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