Photography has always played a crucial role in the history of Jewish nationalism. Yet that role has long been overlooked. The camera did more than record reality: it helped shape it. On one hand, photography fed the hopes of PR strategists who believed shared visual codes could forge unity. On the other, it opened space for counter-narratives of nation and identity that didn't always align with the official story.

This lecture puts photography at the centre of Zionist political history. Through the journeys of photographers, journalists and Zionist functionaries and the images they made, we explore how photography functioned as a mobile language, giving rise to dynamic and often competing expressions of Jewish belonging.

As the camera became an increasingly accessible tool, it opened up new forms of political participation and new ways of imagining statehood. Ways that could amend or even undermine the dominant Labor Zionist narrative. We step into the debates between officials, journalists and photographers to uncover visions of citizenship and political participation that have long remained unaddressed.