Palm Trees, Sunsets, Turmoil is a collection of photographs that have been collected and appropriated from image hosting sites such as Flickr, Panoramio, Imgur and Photobucket. The photographs refer to the period of illegal invasion, stationing, occupation and military interventions of the United States Armed Forces and the British Armed Forces in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom, 2003-2011) and of the United States Armed Forces’ War in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom, from 2001) as part of NATO’s anti-terrorism mission, which has continued since 2015 under the name Resolute Support and continues to this day.

These conflicts come at a time when technology and interactive communication are being developed through collaborative methods and applications that establish new relationships between producers and consumers, in which the function and position of the sender and recipient can no longer be clearly identified. At the same time, both conflicts continue. With the withdrawal of the occupying armies from Iraq in 2011, the new political administration is falling apart and the country is sinking into the chaos of a civil war.

All images in this collection were taken by soldiers, private security company mercenaries such as Blackwater Worldwide (now Academi), embedded journalists and Iraqi and Afghan collaborators working with the occupation forces, and published on the Internet through private accounts. —edition fink