What is morbid? The limits of the representation of gender violence

Abstract

Introduction. This article is the result of a final undergraduate thesis in which the modes of representation of feminized bodies are investigated in a corpus composed of images that arise from the “Ni una menos” mobilizations in Argentina. When investigating, we observed that many images produced with the slogan “Ni una menos” tried to make gender violence visible. However, the ways of showing that violence in the bodies can produce political effects contrary to the intentions of the mobilization. Materials and method. With the tools of Critical Analysis of Discourses, we propose to explain the political effects of artistic productions, delving into the problematic relationship between art and politics. Results. We find that certain images, although at first revealed as powerful due to their crudeness, on a second reading they exhibit a fascinating violence that makes them part of a visual economy that profits from extreme violence. In conclusion, the thematization of gender violence has certain discursive constraints that cannot be left aside.