In Weronika Gęsicka’s unsettling images, American archive photography gets distorted into scenes that are both nightmarish yet somehow entirely plausible. Gęsicka is a guest artist at the Circulations festival for young European photographers, Paris, until 5 March. Here: “Untitled #5”. (Photo by Weronika Gęsicka/The Guardian)

U.S. soldiers from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment take part in an artillery exercise on forward operating base Gamberi in the Laghman province of Afghanistan December 24, 2014. (Photo by Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

Afghan men work in a small sweets factory in Kabul, Afghanistan January 5, 2017. (Photo by Mohammad Ismail/Reuters)

Balinese children take part in a traditional mud bath known as Mebuug-buugan, a day after Nyepi – the “Day of Silence”, aimed at neutralising bad traits in Kedonganan village on Indonesia's resort island of Bali on March 23, 2023. (Photo by Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP Photo)

Faithful jump into the waters of Fasilides Bath as part of a ceremony in which the waters are blessed by the priest of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo church during the second day of Timket in Gondar, Ethiopia, January 20, 2016. “Timket”, the greatest Ethiopian festival of the year is to commemorate Jesus Christ's baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. (Photo by Tiksa Negeri/Reuters)

People cheer as the ball drops at midnight in Times Square on January 1, 2015 in New York City. An estimated one million people from around the world are expected to pack Times Square to ring in 2015. (Photo by Andrew Theodorakis/Getty Images)

People dance during New Year's celebrations in downtown St. Petersburg, Russia, early Sunday, Januaru 1, 2023. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

A woman and her son hold firecrackers during Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, in Mumbai, India, November 4, 2021. (Photo by Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters)