Pandemic Images On Instagram: A Case Study of the covidphotobrazil profile

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the central role of digital photography as a medium that provokes reflections, discussions, debates, and possibly empathy. We intended to analyze the social function of photographic research during the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil through the Instagram platform. For the selection of images, we chose six photographs made in Brazil, whose characters are peripheral women. These images were published on the @covidphotobrazil profile, which catalogs and shares images about the pandemic, made by different authors and in different regions. The analysis will be made in the light of discussions of the iconological and iconographic from Panofsky (2012) adapted to the photography`s language by Kossoy (1999). As a result, we verified that the photographs are invitations to reflect on the realities of the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil but are limited as historical sources if analyzed only from their iconography. Thus, the role of social science that investigates data and information that contextualize images in a place in contemporary history is extremely important.