This paper analyzes the way images of leaders in the Arab world are mediated and the response of Arab citizens to this mediation. Focusing on personality politics and performativity, the paper first examines the different ways in which this mediation occurs and the reasons behind the choices of images presented, as well as how the images appropriate space (both electronic and physical): From leader personas that are part and parcel of an ideology, to personas that transcend ideology; from images that serve as a reminder of a legacy to those that hint at a promise of change; from images that self-consciously reference those of other iconic Arab leaders to images that re-brand the Arab leader to appeal to a new generation of citizens; from images that iconize the self after death to those that construct leaders as icons in their lifetime. The paper then moves to examine the place of the image of the Arab leader in political struggles in the region, arguing that politics in the Arab world is increasingly taking a visual form. Within this framework, the presence or absence of the image of the Arab leader at different moments in time sends particular political messages, and the way those images are approached by citizens again communicates messages about political contention. From exaltation to destruction, citizens' consumption of the image of the Arab leader reflects a multitude of issues, from the construction of an imagined nation to the exercise of hegemony to the communication of contention and opposition. The paper is based on a mixture of the following methodologies: historical analysis of mediated leader images (photos, posters, television images from the 1950s onwards); fieldwork conducted by the researcher in the Arab world (mainly focused on posters and televised images); and textual analysis of contemporary electronic and non-electronic images.