CARINE AND ELISABETH KRECKE

Screenshot / northeastern Syria
IMAGE @2020 CNES / Airbus
GOOGLE EARTH © GOOGLE 2020
While exploring Syria on Google Earth, I was wondering what traces the civil war might have left on satellite images. As expected, footprints of war were all over the place: annihilated towns and villages, landscapes scarred by heavy artillery, oil fields on fire, shell craters, abandoned military vehicles, etc. What captured my attention though was something else. Unexpectedly, I came across a range of strange satellite images that appeared to speak of state violence in a different, i.e. metaphorical or poetic, manner. From there, my project consisted in extracting precisely those nightmarish allegories of war. For me, they became rare crypted resources hidden in plain sight on Google Earth.

Screenshot / northeastern Syria
IMAGE @2020 CNES / Airbus
GOOGLE EARTH © GOOGLE 2020
Hatestate is a selection of 30 satellite images of the north-western parts of Syria that had been occupied by ISIS between 2013 and 2019.
The images exist under the form of links to Google Earth.
The project comes with a white paper that defines its methodology.
Project funded by a grant from the Centre National de l'Audiovisuel, Luxembourg (Bourse d'Aide à la Création 2020).
Copyright © All Rights Reserved
Hatestate
Methodology: GEOINT
Forum: Exhibitiion
Concept and research © Carine KRECKE, 2021-2022
Satellite Images © Google Inc. 2020-2022