A CLOWNETTE-BODY THAT FIGHTS

– ART, GENDER, AND PROTEST

Abstract

This work is theoretically anchored in Materialist Discourse Analysis and takes as its operation the description-interpretation of two photographs taken during the street demonstration called “Palhaceata Ele Não”, held in Rio de Janeiro on the eve of the second round of the 2018 presidential elections. Structured by different signifying materialities in composition (LAGAZZI, 2009, 2012, 2013), the photographs share a visual formulation that highlights the image of female bodies holding a sign with the statement “Fight like a clownette!” From the photographs, we recognize the intersection of discourses that refer to the knowledge of social movements, gender studies, and artistic practices, particularly those developed in the territory of theater, performance, and circus arts. In the analysis, we question how the clownette nose, the word clownette, and ultimately the clownette-body, materially intertwined, can be signified in one way or another and produce protest meaning effects.