Orientalism is a mode of viewing non-Western cultures as other and lesser than Western cultures. European artists repeatedly made specific, denigrating representations of other cultures, thereby forming and sustaining Orientalist views. Yet, beginning in the nineteenth century, these modes of depiction were adopted by artists in Eastern countries. Such appropriation was used to communicate a subversion of Orientalist stereotypes. This paper will explore the ways that Western visual communication was used in the East as a reaction against dominating Orientalist views. The Ottoman painter Osman Hamdi in particular used subtle manipulations of the style and imagery of European Orientalist artists like Jean-Leon Gérôme to contradict demeaning ideas of Ottoman subjects and promote an intelligent, self-sufficient and modern portrait of the empire. Photography and exhibition practices were other visual tools appropriated by Ottoman artists, like Hamdi, for the promotion of their own culture. While mimicry has been suggested as the reason for the appropriation of Western visual forms, I argue that they were used primarily in defense against European ideas of the "Orient." Especially in the art and exhibition work of Osman Hamdi, images of the Ottoman Empire, displayed in a Western format, came together to form a picture of Islamic nations as they wished to be seen. Photographs of the most modern architecture or of Islamic scholars deep in thought promoted the concept of Eastern societies as advanced and worthy of respect. The use of Western representational tools allowed these viewpoints to be seen and understood by a Western audience, translating Eastern statements of self for Western consumption.