Abstract

Abstract:

This essay makes a close examination of a selection of images of the Angolan rapper Luaty Beirão, who became internationally known as a political activist during his imprisonment in June 2015, accused of staging a coup d’état. By analyzing and interpreting images that were highly mediatized during that period, this article shows how political iconography can be traced back to Christian iconography and other images. Such filiations of images and their mediatization invoke a power that contributes to the formation of political and popular icons. This article analyzes this nexus by deconstructing the transmutation of a photograph into a popular icon.

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