From representation to transformation

This paper discusses selected participatory photography projects in popular communities in Rio de Janeiro in light of the Latin American tradition of revolutionary art. Earlier approaches to such projects emphasized the importance of self-representation and the process character of such projects, i.e., the process in the course of which an image comes into being and a person becomes an artist representing herself rather than being represented by others. In contrast, this paper looks at the social transformative potentialities of participatory projects. It thus focuses on the everyday dimension of peace rather than on grandiose notions such as peace among nations.