ABSTRACT
The foundations of law are embedded in a cultural imaginary. The exercise of sovereignty by governments today, and how we as citizens relate to it and are constituted by it, is intimately connected to the modes and discourses through which we experience it on a daily basis. To demonstrate this argument, the first two sections address iconic images by two Australians who are among the greatest photo-journalists of the twentieth century—Frank Hurley in World War I and Damien Parer in World War II. The third section considers contemporary and global images of sovereign violence. A comparison, not just in terms of what is represented but how, will help us articulate three different ‘scopic regimes’ of war, power, and subjectivity. The term ‘scopic regime’ originated in a book entitled The Imaginary Signifier. The task for the twenty-first century is to make sure that the signifier remains neither imaginary nor invisible.
