A particular matrix of Western photography of Palestine in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was that photographers often produced images for multiple markets. These photographic practices were broad, ranging from popular images focusing on well-known biblical themes to scholarly imaging practices that aimed to highlight the Biblical past in disciplines like archaeology and anthropology. The interaction between imaging for scholars and for the general public was grounded in various modes of biblical narrative that bridged the distance between home audiences in the West. The net result was to make the far off ‘Holy Land’ familiar through ‘biblified’ imaging tropes within a subtext of colonial control. In considering the historical modes by which images were appended for publication Zananiri’s practice asks whether the problematic histories of Western photographic production can be remedied through artistic intervention. Zananiri’s work intervenes in these black-and-white images to question how humour can unsettle, reduce, or even negate the colonial baggage these images carry.