Insurgent Pedagogies and Dissidente Visibility

Photographic Exhibitions as Performative Technologies in Public Space

Abstract

This article analyzes how the photographic exhibitions Duo Drag (Brazil) and Cidade de Protesto (Portugal) operate as pedagogical technologies that mobilize identity performances in public space. Drawing on the concept of insurgent pedagogies, I investigate how dissidente bodies use performative strategies to challenge normative rationalities and (re)articulate representatios of gender and sexuality. The methodology combines image analysis, interviews with participants, and theoretical grounding in performance studies and queer theory. The findings reveal that photographic exhibitions function as curatorial devices capable of transforming spectators into co-participants in processes of destabilization and recognition. It is concluded that such practices constitute contemporary forms of the aesthetic and political activation, in which art acts as a vehicle for political and subjective transformation.