ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the political and performative uses of social media, which form networked public and private spheres. It shows that the images are political tools for constructing active and resilient identities. The chapter presents the notion of 'visual activism' as a starting point to describe the formation of a new type of image that is perhaps less concerned with representing protest than with forming protest in its own right. It explores how this new type of image – one that actively engages with political protest – primarily hinges on the relationship between the digital and the analog. The chapter analyses the activity of Pussy Riot. Pussy Riot's selfies show the edge effect in action. The images allude to a physical reality, as represented by the crude barriers in the police van. The subjects are, to use a photographic term, quite literally fixed to their environment.
