Expanding and Remaining is a series of panel paintings of ISIS’s online English-language magazine, Dabiq. With the disturbing content of the publication removed, the structures of its layouts are laid bare. Strange Bedfellows is an infographic taken from the magazine’s fifth issue, which states: “Parties that display friction or outright aggression toward one another are finding themselves aligned in a desire to counter Islamic State. Groups of coloured lines between parties represent shared interests.” If I Were The US President Today (John Cantlie) I – IV is a four-page article written in the voice of the only British hostage still held by ISIS.

Expanding and Remaining outlines evidence of the use of modern media language as a weapon of war. The panel paintings abstractly synthesize the visual language aimed to seduce potential ISIS followers with graphic design and images. The work explores visual language as evidence and its documentary function in complex modern conflicts.

Read An Unfolding Interface by Natasha Hoare.