The Dialectical Image and Counter-Hegemonic Gesture: Photography, the Body, and Memory in Taguatinga (Federal District), Brazil

Abstract

This article examines the photographic work of Ivaldo Cavalcante, focusing on Taguatinga, a satellite city in Brazil’s Federal District, during the 1970s and 1980s. The study proposes a methodological reading through the dialectical image: images that enable — like a flash rather than a system — understanding past events, people, dates, and moments, revealing the counter-hegemonic cultural insurgency that flourished on the margins of modernist and segregated Brasília. The analysis centres on the visual documentation of the artistic vitality of Teatro da Praça, a venue that served as a hub for counterculture and resistance during the military dictatorship. The study draws on theoretical frameworks such as Raymond Williams’s “structure of feeling”, Tina Campt’s “listening to images”, and Marie-José Mondzain’s “the butterfly’s cry”. The examination of the photographs highlights bodies as acts of political freedom and the strategic use of shadows and ephemeral materials, such as leaflets and posters, as tactics for survival and visibility. The article concludes that Cavalcante’s work constitutes a vital counter-archive for historical reparation, evidencing a radical artistic avant-garde on the outskirts of the Federal District and challenging dominant urban historiography.