This research project explores, what it means to destroy images today. By studying the destruction of cultural heritage by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria from 2014 and 2016 and the images they have produced depicting their actions, this dissertation examines the iconoclastic practices of the Islamic State and places them within the history of iconoclasm.
The fact that Islamic State has created images of their acts of destruction has been pointed out as hypocritical, while their ‘performative’ destruction has been used to claim that the group’s actions are not to be considered iconoclasm, but reenactments of same. However, the performative aspect of iconoclasm is tied to the communicative aspect, and this is an essential and century old part of iconoclasm. Researchers such as Gamboni (1997) even suggest that iconoclasm should always be viewed as a communicative endeavor.
The dissertation is divided into three main parts. The first part presents the
background for the dissertation and outlines the questions that guide my analysis. The second part examines the Islamic State’s iconoclasm by conducting a qualitative analysis consisting of a selection of five of the group’s depiction of their deliberate destruction of cultural heritage, which focus on different aspects of the Islamic State’s iconoclasm. The third part zooms out to consider the broader relationship between image creation and destruction in the case of the Islamic State and focuses on what the Islamic State can tell us about contemporary iconoclasm.
The analysis suggests that the images created by the Islamic State should be
understood as a key part of their iconoclastic actions and not a documentation of them. Departing from the hypothesis that contemporary iconoclasm is more focused on the images it creates than the images it destroys, the dissertation evidences that the image-making aspect of the Islamic State’s iconoclastic practice have affected the ways in which the group have damaged and destroyed their targets. However, throughout the dissertation it also become clear that this is not something that defines contemporary iconoclasm specifically as iconoclasts’ communication of their own actions has always been a part of iconoclastic practice.
Through these studies, the dissertation contributes to both the understanding of the Islamic State’s destruction of cultural heritage and the way that iconoclasm is performed today. Furthermore, it contributes to current academic discussions on topics such as the use of cultural heritage in wars and conflict, the effect of global heritage politics, and the legitimacy of iconoclasm as political expression and protest.