The coronavirus pandemic is also a pandemic of pictures disseminated by thermal cameras, extroverted intimacy in videoconferences, projections on facades and numerous reproductions of the computerized synthesis of the virus. No less significant, in the Brazilian context, are pictures of President Bolsonaro, whose photos express his political view of the coronavirus and those of bulldozers opening graves for the victims of the virus. This article analyzes some striking images of social isolation during COVID-19 in Brazil as statements of the visual rhetoric that constitute the cultural experience of the ‘new normal’. Based on the Didi-Huberman methodology described in his book “Bark”, we analyze pictures to understand the pandemic context. Barthe’s, Foss’ and Mateus’ discussions on visual rhetoric make up the theoretical background that supports our conclusion that the pandemic’s biopolitical dimension is understood from the field of invisibilities.
Key words:
Visual rhetoric; aesthetics of surveillance; indivisibility; coronavirus