Imagem das redes: as fotografias da “Cracolândia” no Twitter

Abstract

Photographs, since their emergence and because of their capability of technical reproduction, were a rupture in the understanding of what gave objects the status of art. Among many of their potentials, photographs are also an important support for representation, communication, and debate about social reality. Currently, the technical reproducibility that characterizes it is experiencing another moment: photographs are distributed on unprecedented scales online, viewed on smartphone screens and other technological devices. Added to this context are social media networks, digital spaces in which senders and receivers are confused, configuring new formats for sharing pictures and debating social realities they represent. Given this scenario, this research seeks to understand how sensitive, uncomfortable issues of social reality are represented in the reality of social media through photographs. To this end, the research focuses on photographs that speak about “Cracolândia”, which has been inhabiting the center of São Paulo for decades and were posted on Twitter during the period in which this population occupied Praça Princesa Isabel and was removed from there in a series of police actions in the so-called “Caronte” operation. As mediators between the complex social reality of “Cracolândia” and the reality of online social networks, what can these photographs tell us?