The research investigates the lesbofeminist artivism of amazonian collectives from the state of Pará,
which I term sapativistas, focusing on the visual expressions, digitally available, that constitute an
"artified device of sapatão1 affection." The concept of device is grounded in Michel Foucault (1979)
and directed towards the intersections of gender, race, and class, as explored particularly by bell
hooks (1995; 2019) and Sueli Carneiro (2005; 2019). It is understood as a cultural practice that
articulates affection, identity, and LBTQ+ resistance in the context of digital culture. The research
seeks to understand how the visual and poetic productions of collectives such as Sapato Preto
Amazônida and Rede ALAMP, on Instagram and in physical spaces, express and construct an
imaginary of resistance and affect, highlighting symbols and narratives of belonging. The
identification of these images as forms of art is based on concepts of artivism, drawing from Lucy
Lippard (2024), and on the hypothesis of artification, primarily introduced by Ellen Dissanayake
(2009). The analysis methodology combines feminist approaches with sapatão and queer
epistemologies, drawing from authors such as Adrienne Rich (2012), Audre Lorde (2019), Glória
Anzaldúa (2000; 2005), Ann Cvetkovich (2021), and Sara Ahmed (2006; 2010). These perspectives
help to understand dissident poetic production through the lens of lesbian existence and continuum,
unveiling the aesthetic and affective codes present in the images and collective actions, as well as
the impact of these productions in expanding lesbian visibility and fostering public policies. Among
the findings, the research identifies contemporary lesbofeminist artivism in the Amazon region,
which operates on digital social networks and appropriates these spaces to create existence and,
above all, to expand, make visible, and resignify images while bringing people together in physical
or non-physical spaces through encounters of political and cultural resistance. From the perspectives
of activist poetics and artification, the sapativistas emerge not only as activist subjects and social
protagonists across all analyzed groups but also as creative artivists who reframe images, turning
them into powerful forms of affection and emotional impact. With this study, we aim to highlight
historically dissident artistic expressions and contribute to the debate on the role of digital culture
in the expansion and reconfiguration of lesbian and feminist discourses by Amazonian collectives.
This is a challenging endeavor in the face of social media algorithms shaped by a concept of
compulsory heteronormativity, while simultaneously promoting new forms of political articulation
for the local sapphic community.
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