The Parable of the Theatre in the Iconography of Suffering

Abstract

The visual representation of suffering stimulates the solidarity and encourages intervention but determines a significant effect on the global social order: it replicates its interactions and confirms its narrative models because it represents otherness with stereotypical characteristics introjected by the West. When otherness meets the economic practices of solidarity, it becomes a commodity that can be overshadowed if it is submerged by forms of activism that fuel narcissistic gratification. The defect of these representative modalities lies in the theatrical approach which deny the auto-determination of whom is depicted. Being able to observe, as privileged spectators, the pain suffered by subjects exposed according to canons attributed from the West, encourages a sense of paternalistic dominance which brings into voyeuristic attitudes.