“The old world is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.” (Antonio Gramsci)

Withheld due to: deals with one of the greatest torture scandals in recent times. It calls upon the viewers to question what they see, and the feelings it creates in them while looking at it. Can images shock, despite not showing anything shocking? Does a censored transparency still create transparency? What do you feel when you look at an isolated part of the body? Withheld due to: is created with government-released images and files from Abu Ghraib and the War on Terror. It does not seek to please. It’s disturbing, with the full intention of doing so.

All 198 images in this book have been published by the United States Department of Defense and are reproduced in the order in which they are found in the original 162-page file. The images have been processed for printing, but have otherwise not been modified in any way. The featured files are excerpts of files from various American government agencies. To date, none of the images featured in the files have been published publicly. The entire collection of files, as well as the 198 featured images, can be accessed via the ACLU website (thetorturedatabase.org) and via the United States Department of Defense wesbite (defense.gov). -CPRESS