The deliberate destruction of family photographs from Damascus illustrates the connections and discontinuities between personal biographies and historical change. Present concerns about the control of the female image and the Day of Judgment, resulting from growing Islamic sentiment, must be seen in light of the subjective historical experiences recorded in the photographic images. By considering these biographical narratives both synchronically and diachronically, this article exposes the generational tensions of successive mother-daughter relationships which lead inexorably to the photographs’ eventual destruction.