“Cais do Corpo”: o poder de imagens e vozes dissonantes na ressignificação da prostituição

Abstract

This article is based on the audiovisual work of the Brazilian artist Virgínia de Medeiros entitled “Cais do corpo” (Body’s pier) to address the theme of the precariousness of lives and think about the possibilities of resistance to this process. The video exposes the violent and excluding effects of the “revitalization” process of Praça Mauá, in Rio de Janeiro, focusing on the prostitutes’ experiences of living and working in this region. From the video and also from ideas brought by contemporary authors, the work intends, first, to develop a critical discussion about the current society, especially the Brazilian one, with its techniques of silencing and eliminating populations considered nonhuman. Second, to argue that the artistic work, by betting on the power of subaltern subjects’ images and voices, is today an important space for resignifying identities socially put in the place of abjection and exclusion, such as that of prostitutes.