This paper will explore how photography was used by different groups during the Algerian War of Independence (1954-62) and how selected images have been mobilised after the war to tell distinct histories of decolonisation. The central question that this research seeks to answer concerns the uses of visual representation to navigate the complex mnemonic landscape after the war. The paper will look at the “afterlives” of a range of photographs, trying to understand why certain images have become emblematic of this prolific war of decolonisation while others have become side-lined. Of particular interest is why certain cultural institutions, publishing houses, and artists in Algeria, France, and internationally continue to foreground the work of European photographers at the expense of Algerian ones. The paper will argue that images from the war are reanimated to respond to the distinct needs and demands of the present, be it to draw attention to historical collections held in people’s homes, diplomatic agendas, or personal reckonings with a traumatic past. Crucially, this paper will foreground how different actors relate to and decide to picture a past that is foundational to Algerian nationhood through visual representation. By adopting theoretical perspectives from art history and visual anthropology concerning the social biographies of photographs, the paper will trace the multiple appropriations, recontextualizations, and layered meanings of images. Drawing on archival research and oral history, it will explore how photographic images are integral to the processes of memory formation and the narratives created about the distant past. This research is of relevance not only to scholars of visual culture and histories of decolonisation, but also to museum curators and keepers of collections. It can influence the choices made when displaying photographs pertaining to the Algerian War of Independence, as well as to other anti-colonial and liberation movements in North Africa and globally.