paola paleari

The text was written for the project Decor_ by Thomas Kuijpers (2017).
For this project, Kuijpers deleted the people from landscapes derived from the most repulsive propaganda videos by ISIS. Kuijpers appropriates the images by asking writers and poets to fill these ‘decors’ with alternative tales. In this way, he investigates the tension between a rational and emotional response, as well as the meaning of image ownership.

Thomas Kuijpers, Decor_2. A videograd shows a masked Islamic State (ISIS) militant holding a knife speaks next to man purported to be U.S. journalist James Foley at an unknown location in this still image from an undated video posted on a social media website. Islamic State insurgents released the video on August 19, 2014 purportedly showing the beheading of Foley, who had gone missing in Syria nearly two years ago, and images of another U.S. journalist whose life they said depended on U.S. action in Iraq. The video, titled A Message to America, was released a day after Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot that has overrun large parts of Iraq, threatened to attack Americans in any place. U.S. officials said they were working to determine its authenticity. (Newscom TagID: eyepress079348.jpg) [Photo via Newscom]