The Intimate Enemy
YEAR
2014-2017
EXHIBITED
Pelagica
LINZ FMR 19
LOCATIONS
Internet based
Digital Caliphate
The Intimate Enemy is a research-driven project that delves into the digital landscape and contemporary forms of identity-building, with a particular focus on internet-based propaganda disseminated by the Islamic State (ISIS) from 2014 to 2017. This project serves as an archive of over 1,000 propaganda images, collected from social media accounts associated with the Islamic State, from the declaration of the Caliphate in 2014 through 2017. It explores the intersection of identity, digital communication, and global conflict within the context of a hyper-connected world.
Is geography still relevant in an interconnected, globalized world? How can individuals from vastly different national and cultural contexts form a shared identity through a carefully curated branding process? The Intimate Enemy engages these questions by analyzing how ISIS, through digital propaganda, built a cohesive identity for a global audience, leveraging the power of visual and linguistic elements to create relational identification between followers, regardless of their geographical origins.
The project examines how normalization plays a critical role in identity formation. By utilizing familiar aesthetic codes and web-based dialects, ISIS propaganda constructed a space in which violence, extremism, and even acts of terror could be normalized and made appealing. This was achieved through subtle yet powerful visual language, memes, and digital humor. By emphasizing relatable, often irreverent imagery, ISIS created an environment in which its actions, while extreme, were contextualized in ways that resonated with its target audience—especially vulnerable young people exposed to the inequalities generated by globalization.
Rather than focusing on explicit violence, The Intimate Enemy highlights how the ISIS digital landscape used humor and mimicry to troll and provoke its enemies. Memes mocking the Iraqi government, ethnic minorities, and Western values were strategically deployed, often to normalize violence and ridicule Western hypocrisy. The project explores how such digital tactics were instrumental in attracting international recruits, particularly young jihadis who were drawn to a sense of belonging and identity in the face of global disenfranchisement.
Some images glorify iconic ISIS leaders or foreign fighters, while others parody viral Western media events, such as the “Ice Bucket Challenge,” or mock U.S. military supplies sent to Iraq, like humvees, recontextualizing them for the group’s agenda. In one example, Turkish Airlines is irreverently dubbed the “official logistic sponsor” of foreign fighters traveling to the Caliphate, and a smartphone favored by ISIS militants is given the war-inspired nickname “Samsung Al Galàxy.”
Portraits of martyrs are elaborated with the most popular manipulation softwares, excerpts from the Quran are dragged into different contexts to resonate with the Caliphate ideology, but there are also screenshots of material produced by official ISIS communication channels, and testimony of more elaborate campaigns such as exploiting internet’s most popular craze, cats, to reach the widest audience possible. Social media accounts such as ‘Cats of Isis’ were presenting cute pictures of fighters taking care of kittens found in villages after their conquest, as if inhabitants were not being slaughtered or displaced at the same time.
Although there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that bots were used to amplify the reach of this propaganda, ISIS actively encouraged followers to participate in spreading messages, often through coordinated “Twitterstorms.” These efforts aimed to manipulate perceptions of consensus among followers, creating the illusion of a larger and more widespread movement.
Ultimately, the project underscores how ISIS’s digital tactics mirror its military campaigns in terms of territorial expansion and narrative control. The group’s efforts to colonize the digital landscape are as impactful as its physical invasions, demonstrating the power of digital propaganda in shaping perceptions and solidifying identity.
The exhibition itself is presented on mobile phone screens located within gallery spaces, or via private networks accessible through Wi-Fi routers installed at the venues. This interactive setup mirrors the digital nature of the content, encouraging viewers to engage with the material in a way that reflects the ubiquitous, pervasive nature of digital propaganda.