Cartes de Visite and the visual representation of black people in the 19th Century

Abstract

This article aims to explore the role of business card-style photography in the construction of the visual representation of black people in the 19th century. Through content analysis and bibliographical review, the study examines the business cards of threenineteenth-century photographers who lived in Brazil in the second half of the century. The theoretical foundation is based on authors who address topics such as photography, colonialism and representationof black people from a decolonial perspective. The results indicate that these photographs played a crucial role in shaping social perceptions about the black population, reinforcing racist stereotypes in the collective visual imagination.