Landscapes of Absence
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Abstract
The project and exhibition Landscapes of Absence by Brandon Bauer explores ethical issues around the use of ISIS propaganda images within the media. In particular, the project examines the use of propaganda images in the absence of reliable and journalistically objective images, since the brutal beheadings of western journalists has made it too dangerous to report from areas under control of the self-proclaimed Islamic State. The project uses images drawn from eight beheading incidents disseminated through ISIS media outlets. In the works in the exhibition, the dehumanized image of the victims has been erased, leaving only the landscape and the absence of image as a metaphor for the larger issue of the absence of reliable reporting.
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References
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