Galeria de Santa Maria Maior

R. da Madalena 147, 1100-006 Lisboa

14 . 10 . 2026 → 07 . 11 . 2026

monday - saturday → 03:00 pm – 08:00 pm

Artist

Carine Krecké

Carine Krecké is a Luxembourgish artist and author. For over two decades, she has developed conceptual art works on war, violence, and terrorism. Her projects probe investigative, quasi-forensic methods (open-source analysis and geospatial intelligence) within documentary forms, blurring boundaries between reality and fiction, truth and fabrication, past and present, and even between author and protagonist. Her work has been presented in major international exhibitions.

Too Far, Too Close (2025)
(Video by Carine Krecké / Duration: 18:57)

Between 2014 and 2019, vast areas of northeastern Syria fell under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The group’s terrifying propaganda saturated social media, yet neutral images of that period remain scarce. For good reason: under ISIS rule, taking photographs could cost one’s life.

One silent witness, however, continued to observe the territory during the entire drama: Google Earth. What if the satellite cameras flying over the infamous caliphate's territory had captured the unspeakable?

How do we perceive war? From afar, as a flow of images on our screens, or from within, so close that perspective collapses? What distance allows us not only to see, but also to feel?

My project emerged from weeks of scanning satellite imagery of the Deir-ez-Zor area. I rapidly abandoned the search for explicit traces of war: destroyed villages, scorched oil fields, wounded terrain. Instead, I turned to fragments that speak obliquely: visual anomalies, cartographic slips, and ambiguous forms or figures that evoke life under terror through metaphor and allegory.

Most images presented in this ‘montage film’ are unaltered Google Earth screenshots, used within platform guidelines; only framing and zoom vary.

Too Far, Too Close is part of Losing North, an online investigation into the Syrian war that consumed six years of my life. The project was awarded the Luxembourg Photography Award and presented in its entirety at the Chapelle de la Charité during the Rencontres d’Arles 2025.