What is the cultural precipitate of the processes of imagination in today's reality, so permeated by the presence of images and media? In this contribution, an attempt will first be made to establish some useful frameworks to perimeter the conceptual and theoretical positioning of the categories in question - image, imagination, imaginary - privileging the points of contact with media theories. To this end, we will examine from the outset how images can guide the construction of shared imaginaries and collective symbolic systems, according to which individuals and social groups elaborate models of behaviour, values, and relationships. The reflection will continue by first considering the phenomena of participation and sharing of a social imaginary conceived as an identity glue within national communities, then by drawing attention to the new models of imagination following the evolution, in contemporary times, of technologies and practices of digital image production