The War We See podcast: Conversations about War Imagery

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Hirah Azhar, Doctoral researcher in the Department of History, University of Southampton and Imperial War Museum

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Who decides what we see of war? What is censored, erased, or amplified? And how have evolving technologies and political choices helped shape the visual narratives about war that we consume? In my recently launched podcast The War We See, I puzzle over these questions and more with a broad range of people connected to the world of war imagery, including researchers, curators, archivists, photojournalists, and documentary filmmakers.

I am a final year doctoral researcher in History exploring the history of visual influence in war through the study of a collection of Islamic State images and Ministry of Defence photograph collections held at my partner institution, the Imperial War Museum (IWM). I am funded by the AHRC as part of their Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) scheme that brings together academic and heritage institutions on PhD studentships, and the scheme generously offers doctoral researchers the opportunity to engage in funded Skills Development Activities (SDA), such as placements, internships, and training for up to six months. This podcast, along with a video essay, make up my self-designed placement that was facilitated by Digital Humanities (DH) at Southampton and IWM London. The idea for this placement came from the realisation that while public history content is hugely popular and wields enormous influence over audiences, academic researchers face several barriers in the production of such content. Historians will often be invited to contribute their expertise to factual programming, for example, but are rarely involved in the creative process. As a result, academics have little to no agency in how their knowledge and expertise is being used to educate and entertain broader audiences.

My aim with this placement was to gain the technical know-how to develop creative audio-visual output that transforms historical research into a more appealing and convenient format for both academic and, importantly, non-academic audiences, without necessarily having to depend on established producers of such content. The two driving questions behind this activity were: Can academics outside of traditionally creative fields participate more fully in these content production processes? And will doing so help them break out of the traditional interview or narration style of such content, and tell stories about their research in more innovative and engaging ways? I knew that I wanted to create a video essay on my doctoral research, but the podcast was conceptually a bigger challenge, because it both needed to be related to my research, and still appeal to a broad audience. The War We See is partly inspired by conversations I’ve had over the course of my doctoral journey with a wide range of people, including academics, curators, and even people completely unconnected to the field. This is a subject that inevitably prompts people to mention particularly memorable images of war that have stayed with them, or how they feel about seeing the imagery from ongoing conflicts, so it felt like a subject that resonates with a small but interested audience. And while presenting visual history in an audio format seems counterintuitive, I was curious to bypass the traditional means of consuming war imagery — in print, framed in museums and galleries, posted on social media — and see if listening to discussions of war imagery would encourage people to visualise, rather than simply look at images. My hope is that these conversations will help listeners see images of war beyond the visual elements of the final product, from how images are selected, framed, curated, and archived, to the various dynamics influencing what we end up seeing of war.

I spent the first couple of months planning the production of this podcast, including finalising the concept and name, putting together a non-exhaustive list of themes and topics of conversation, drawing up a list of potential guests, and teaching myself the ins and outs of podcasting. The DH very graciously facilitated this important part of the process, providing access to a dedicated DH technician and inviting me to remain embedded with the DH team for the duration of my placement. This meant that I could develop the podcast with immediate access to technical expertise, necessary equipment, and an existing community of people with whom to share my ideas and challenges with. It is very unlikely that I could have produced this podcast without the DH, and certainly not in the allotted time. The second step involved contacting potential guests and establishing a process that both worked for me and could be maintained beyond the end of the placement. This includes, for example, using an online podcasting service (Zencastr) for remote interviews, and booking the portable podcasting kit from DH whenever I do in-person and off-site recordings. The recordings are then edited using Audacity, a free, cross-platform audio editing programme, before being uploaded to Spotify for Creators, a free podcast host. These episodes are then distributed to various podcast playing services, such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music. I also used Canva, an online graphic design resource, to personally design the art for the podcast, and I promote episodes when they are released (fortnightly) on dedicated social media accounts (X and Instagram for now) as well as my own personal social media accounts.

For a podcast that is entirely produced and hosted by me, the process for one recorded conversation can often take a few months, from making first contact to preparation to recording, then editing and other doing other post-production, and lastly, to launching and promoting each episode.In selecting guests, I’m keen to reach out to people who offer a wide range of perspectives on this genre of imagery, especially those who are as interested in questions of framing and curation as I am. Guests so far have ranged from academics like the Department of History’s Dr Chris Fuller, whose episode focused on the weaponisation of the camera; to museum professionals like IWM curator Dr Toby Haggith, who works in film restoration and Holocaust imagery; and producers of imagery like research partners Edmund Clark, a photographer, and investigative journalist Crofton Black. Upcoming guests include photojournalists as well as visual media scholars and activist-artists.

With four episodes out so far (as of 10 November 2025), The War We See currently has a small, but dedicated, number of subscribers and a decent download rate for what is essentially, a self-produced amateur history podcast. What is perhaps most encouraging is that nearly all invited guests are enthusiastic about participating, often recommending other guests from their own networks and widely promoting their episode on social media. Feedback from guests and listeners alike has been overwhelmingly positive, especially regarding the discussion of selected images, and the podcast’s rather liberal interpretation of what constitutes war imagery, often moving beyond the boundaries of traditional war photography.

For anyone interested in listening to The War We See, episodes are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.