Paper short abstract:

This paper will focus on the performance of two groups of photographers from the "Global South". Through a comparative analysis, I'll reflect on how different groups use photographs for a political action pro-human rights worldwide.

Paper long abstract:

To produce photographs, therefore representations, is a process of construction of reality by an individual. Historically, the photographer belongs to a superior class to the one portrayed that ends up being an object in the representation. Fighting to reverse power-relations through representations, two groups of photographers from different parts of the Global South are questioning representations made of them. Representing their groups to participate politically in contemporary societies, these photo-activists point to an important space of resistance: culture, presented by its members. This paper will focus on the performance of two groups that aims to change negative images people have of them. One, a Brazilian group of photographers from Rio's favelas, deal with a process of criminalization of poverty that causes a series of interventions of the State, through the police, in their neighbourhood. These conflicts generate various types of violence: symbolic, physical and lethal. The other, a Bangladeshi group based in a middle class neighbourhood in Dhaka, is concerned about the image the 'West' has about them. The image of poor and hungry victims of the tragedies got even worst after the 9/11, when they also came to be seen also as potential Muslim terrorists. How these photographers react through photos to troublesome representations (whether an ethnicity, a religion or a social class) is the subject of this discussion. Through a cross-cultural comparison, I will reflect on how these photographers use feelings of deprivation, injustice and exclusion to build new forms of protests and fight for Human Rights.