This project was carried out during 2021 in an emergency remote format at the Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Bahia, Campus Jacobina. The proposal focuses on discussing, reflecting and producing artistically through photography, understood as a technical image, the dimension imposed by the forms of manipulation of reality through advertising images in cyber space on the individual in a situation of socioeconomic vulnerability. The concept of emancipation discussed here is based on the theories of the German philosopher Jurgen Harbemas (1989), who describes the emancipated “I” as constructed from communicational development from the perspective of a collectivist society. Photography in art teaching can be an important tool in encouraging the construction of an emancipatory dimension about reality in the school space and its aesthetic representations based on the development of a critical look at the image in its symbolic dimension. Still facing the challenge of renewing itself in the face of the urgent demand for new solutions imposed by the globalized and complex contemporary world, this proposal also seeks to create strategies that expand the meaning of the pedagogical experiences to be developed in relation to socioeconomic identity processes from the perspective of emancipation in the social environment, seeking to confront alienating images of consumption with images from the universe of art and photography that instrumentalize individuals on the path to emancipation.

Justification

The proposal presented here seeks to bring the concept of identity processes closer to the photographic narratives of individuals in situations of socioeconomic vulnerability in the sense that they can envision an emancipatory experience in the context of Art, so that, based on this interaction, it is possible to develop ways of using both as a versatile methodological option that can be implemented by teachers in the arts, especially in federal education institutes, as a way of bringing more effective teaching-learning instruments and processes. The reason why this project is designed is to try to respond to concerns regarding teaching in the arts within the scope of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Bahia, to investigate the training paths of young people in situations of socioeconomic vulnerability who begin their academic lives with greater impetus, motivated by better social perspectives in post-capitalist scenarios and also reviewing the role that technical images have in the daily teacher-student relationship in its emancipatory dimension. At IFBA Campus Jacobina, there is a great diversity of identity, most of the students come from neighboring cities such as Miguel Calmon, Tapiramutá, Várzea do Poço, Várzea Nova, Caém, Serrolândia, Mirangaba, Taquarendi, Várzea da Roça, Junco, Paraíso, Itaitú among others. (ROSA, 2014, p70). In view of this, there is a fertile territory in social diversities, identities in the process of maturing and the possibility of a favorable intervention in relation to the use of technical images, as a large part of the institution's socioeconomically vulnerable students are in contact with these image texts.

Theoretical foundation

As a primary theoretical reference for the construction of a concept about art in school, this project sought a foundation in the thought of the philosopher Gilles Deleuze, for him art appears as an immanent power, as a specific knowledge about the world, intending to reach the new, and must dare distort the school as a symbolic space typical of the control society. (DELEUZE & GUATTARI, p. 67) The manipulation, development and definition of a concept that involves art as knowledge within the scope of school permeates the idea that it is also necessary to approach art beyond an instrument that generates a product, the conception of art, perceived in the school space often as a technique, therefore an instrument, leaves aside its importance as a form of thought, overlooked for practical or beautification purposes.

Nesse sentido este projeto abarca uma concepção de arte que ultrapassa os limites epistemológicos usualmente tradicionais no âmbito das escolas técnicas como é o caso do Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia da Bahia. A arte deve pensar o mundo de uma forma não pragmática, não limitada ao pensamento lógico-dedutivo. 

Regarding the issue of the photographic image and its use as a pedagogical instrument, the theoretical scope of some thinkers on the aforementioned topic is brought to light, which can elucidate a path for the development of this project. Talking about photography as a teaching proposal is also seeking questions about visual literacy. In this sense, we bring as a reference the work “Syntax of visual language,” by Donis A. Dondis, in a brief analysis of the context in which these same images are inserted in the daily lives of teachers and students, after all, each image holds within itself a receptacle of individual and collective impulses, desires and daydreams.

Even using a visual approach to teaching lacks rigor and well-defined objectives. In many cases, students are bombarded with visual resources, slides, films, slides, audiovisual projections, but these are presentations that reinforce their passive experience as television consumers. (DONDIS, 1991, p 17.)

We realized in the aforementioned author's analysis that the function of the image in modernity is fundamentally linked to the world of modern consumption. Still for Dondis:

The industrial revolution brought about a dynamic transformation in all things made by the machine, the craftsman and the artist; they were no longer produced to order, but for speculative purposes. Here is the product, created and manufactured; Will anyone want it? The entire exchange between creator and user is then broken, giving way to more trivial means of understanding. The void is filled by all sorts of artificial approaches, which aim to stimulate consumer demand, such as advertising and market research, but the ultimate test will always be the consumer's response. (DONDIS, 1991, p. 200)

Photography was chosen for the development of this project because it is present in a large part of the population's daily life, especially for teachers and students, perhaps almost omnipresently. For Dondis (1991 p. 26) “The invention of photography caused the

spectacular emergence of a new way of seeing communication and, by extension, education”. In education, it is understood that the image plays a fundamental role in the applicability of forms of knowledge. However, the modern seduction by photographic images is not an instrument that in itself “teaches”, as we still lack this preparation to deal with knowledge through images.

According to Flusser:

In general, everyone has a photographic device and takes photos, just as practically everyone is literate and produces texts. Whoever knows how to write, knows how to read; Therefore, anyone who knows how to photograph knows how to decipher photographs. Mistake. To understand the reason why those who take photographs can be photographically illiterate, we need to consider the democratization of the photographic act. Such a consideration may contribute, in passing, to our understanding of democracy in its broadest sense. (FLUSSER, 2002, p. 21)

We seek reflection on technical images and their paradigms in contemporary times in the thinking of Vilém FLusser and Valter Benjamin and their incisive contributions to photography become, from the second half of the 20th century, basic lines in the epistemological, social and cultural understanding of the subject. In the contemporary world, the growing photography industry enables extremely fast, high-quality access to practically all areas of knowledge, “human existence is abandoning the structure of linear sliding to assume the structure of quantum skipping, typical of devices.” (FLUSSER, 2002. p.34).

In Benjamin, we gather the proposal for a critical vision regarding the image in the school space, which now apparently holds the status of a work and not a representation, the aura mentioned in the text “The Work of Art in the Era of Technical Reproducibility” in is delivered crowned by the media universe of advertising images, often eliciting hedonistic behavior on the part of students, images that also enter the classroom space and that can bring new possibilities and ways of rethinking teaching practice as status-challenging instruments quo.

In the school space, cultural plurality is present in a very marked way and identities are linked to social class, gender, ethnicity, race, sexuality, age, in addition to other categories noticeable in social relations. The school, therefore, must promote reflection on multiple citizenships and identities, which today are marked by an intense debate in order to establish a definition. For this research, the argument brought by Bauman helps in understanding the term:

[...] they do not have the solidity of a rock, they are not guaranteed for life, they are quite negotiable and revocable, and that the decisions that the individual himself takes, the paths he takes, the way he acts – and the determination to stand firm in all of this – are crucial factors for both belonging and identity (BAUMAN, 2005, p.17).

Therefore, we have an elastic and changeable definition of identities that can bring several productive and unpredictable situations to this proposal, precisely because of its complex nature.

Main goal

Develop didactic-pedagogical processes that address the field of contemporary education regarding the manipulation and consumption of technical images in art teaching, providing the initiative and autonomy of participants in situations of socioeconomic vulnerability to question and propose emancipatory artistic actions/experiences through construction /critical-reflective creation capable of giving new meaning to your views, taking into account your identity processes.

Project Execution Methodology

Initially, students participating in the proposal will be selected who serve the group of individuals in situations of socioeconomic vulnerability through contact with social assistance at IFBA Campus Jacobina and state and municipal public schools in the city. Initially, students will respond to an online questionnaire that will serve as a selection tool to fill the 40 vacancies in the teaching proposal, which will have a preparatory phase following this selection in the form of an introduction course to reading images in the form remote, which will address concepts about the history of art and photography and how images can influence individuals' choices, desires and political aspirations. The analysis of student reports will help to draw an outline of active methodologies in teaching and learning, as well as dialogue, interviews and the completion of structured questionnaires that will certainly constitute essential elements for the elaboration of a more robust theoretical framework on the impact of technical images on teaching art and its effects on contemporary consumption.

O estudante bolsista será orientado a conhecer previamente o conteúdo deste curso e a intervir produtivamente do processo de ensino-aprendizagem dos estudantes participantes, sendo previamente orientado pelo coordenador.  Será função do bolsista a coleta de dados sobre a produção dos participantes, o acompanhamento junto ao coordenador quando ocorrerem os encontros virtuais, aulas e reuniões. Caberá também ao bolsista supervisionar a produção artística semanalmente desenvolvida pelos participantes. 

Regarding the interviews, we intend to use the methodology recommended by Szymanski, who states the reflective interview as an instrument that “has been used in qualitative research as a solution for the study of subjective meanings and complex topics”. Szymanski (2004, p.65). Trying to discover the motivations, awareness and subsequent actions of the participants selected for this study will bring important clues that may point to possible answers to the question generating this investigation.

Finalmente os dados coletados e os conhecimentos adquiridos serão sistematizados na forma de uma cartilha educativa em formato virtual (PDF) que será distribuída gratuitamente para escolas públicas federais, estaduais e municipais. A cartilha será produzida pelo coordenador da proposta. Além disso será feita uma exposição virtual da produção artística dos participantes, preferencialmente nos canais oficiais do IFBA, expondo sobretudo o processo formativo dos envolvidos, trazendo relatos, imagens e vídeos de suas experiências individuais e coletivas. 

Expected results

The results of the project will be materialized and published in two ways, the first in the form of a virtual booklet on the experiences carried out on the topic, seeking to clarify in accessible language the impacts that the consumption of images can have on the participants' daily lives. In a second moment there will be a virtual exhibition that will display the artistic production of those involved as well as presenting individual reports of the impact of the proposal on citizenship formation, hoping as a result of this process the autonomy of participants in situations of socioeconomic vulnerability in questioning and proposing actions/ emancipatory artistic experiences through critical-reflective construction/creation capable of giving new meaning to their views, taking into account their identity processes.