This paper addresses the intersection of European photography and European identity through a discussion of Safe European; a photographic project on identity and youth unemployment by Swedish photographer Pelle Kronestedt. In an analy¬sis informed by semiotics and work on the political rhetoric of photography; the author argues that; through display in an unusual exhibition locale and an unexpected focus for a documentary photographic project on such a subject; Safe European subverts expectations and raises questions about photographic repre¬sentation and cultural attitude