How art practices can commit to the pursuit of social and environmental justice – from and beyond the civil contract of photography, lessons from the Amazon

Abstract

This paper seeks to reflect on the political agency of artworks as well as to propose insights towards potential ways photography could be employed, in the context of the twenty-first century, to support the development of fairer future scenarios in social and environmental agendas. It draws upon the author’s experiences in her fieldwork in the Amazon intertwined with Ariella Azoulay’s assertions on photographs as agencies of empowerment, and Jacques Rancière’s perspectives on the impact of art practices upon the systems that rule society.