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The images in That Thing That Never Vanished were made over the course 10-years during major international conflicts and humanitarian crises by Italian photojournalist Emanuele Satolli. The photographer’s aim was not to present his work as documents of historical events but as pictorial testimony to lived experiences with a high human cost, forming a critical discourse on conflict.
Please be aware that this book contains graphic imagery.
The photographs in the book were taken in Afghanistan, Djibouti, the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Lebanon, Nagorno Karabakh, Syria, Turkey and during the ongoing war in Ukraine. They are initially presented stripped of any contextual information—no location, identities nor date. Devoid of captions they show visual stream of destruction and death, mourning and the continuation of life in harsh conditions. The captions are published later in the book along with Satolli’s recollections of key incidents he witnessed including a failed attempt by the Iraqi army to retake a hospital from ISIS in Mosul and later civilians attempting to escape during the final phase of the battle to liberate the city in 2017; the violent escalation of a Friday protest in the Gaza strip 2018; the operation to retrieve a soldier injured by a mine in Sulyhivka, Ukraine in 2022 and the subsequent pointless deaths resulting from the mission; and witnessing a ‘double tap’ strike also in Ukraine in 2023. The book closes with the portraits and the stories of injured Iraqi soldiers illustrating the impact of conflict on individual lives. At a time when AI-generated images, disinformation and propaganda are on the rise, the photographs collectively demonstrate the crucial value of the continued work of experienced photojournalists to provide ongoing witness.
‘War stirs the blood. Teeth gritted. Jaw clenched. Heart pounding. Is death around the corner? Yours or someone else’s? The mundanity of everyday life recedes. It’s here, on the edge of life and death, that one really lives. Everything matters, because the stakes couldn’t be higher. How did we get here? Thousands of years have passed, and the purposes of war haven’t changed: defending a homeland, a people, a resource—or seizing someone else’s. What sends someone to war also remains the same: money, pride, loyalty, ambition.’ - James Marson, Ukraine Bureau Chief at The Wall Street Journal