Images and construction of collective identity: the case of the women's movement in Argentina (2015-2018)

Abstract

Since 2015 feminism emerged with new force in Argentina, identified with the slogan #niunamenos, launched by a group of feminist journalists on the Internet, as a shout of protest against male violence. The response to the call was huge. In 2018, this movement joins the mobilization of women during the debate on the law of voluntary termination of pregnancy. This movement has neither an institutional organization nor any central leadership. It is a group without headquarters that brings together generations, parties and different social sectors. As one could expect, this new kind of politics uses innovative visibility strategies to build an identity. I will analyze photographs taken during the main demonstrations and other pictures published on the Internet. I shall focus on some expressive strategies: use of colour, intertextuality, the body as a signifier, slogans, street art. These visual strategies allow mutual recognition during the demonstrations but also later, at any time and any place.