Shot, countershot, off-screen space: Espionage and DIPBA’s gaze on the Argentine Women Union

Abstract

To investigate the discursive communities and the scopic regimes involved in the so-called “repression files” implies dealing with cross-discipline approaches on Visual studies and Discourse analysis. What is there behind the presumption of “dangerousness” leading to the seizure of photographs by police forces? The knot woven out of images and control stages different visual fields in dispute: primarily, an order framed by a stark gaze cast by surveillance forces on the seized photographs. In spite of its hegemony, however, every reality comprises at least two sides: the reverse of this worldview which deems itself impartial, its visual countershot, is dominated by the bodily disposition of the actors portrayed. Finally, delving into the images archived by repressive organizations also reveals an unfathomable off-screen space, which expands beyond the recorded frames.