Didiana Prata's 'Calendário Dissidente' Uses AI to Archive Brazil's Political Visual Memory on Instagram

Graphic designer Didiana Prata has launched 'Calendário Dissidente,' a project mapping the aesthetic of images from Instagram's database to document Brazil's sociopolitical events since President Jair Bolsonaro's inauguration. The initiative, part of her doctoral research in Design at FAU/USP under Professor Giselle Beiguelman, was developed during a residency at the Centro de Inteligência Artificial do Inova USP. Prata aims to archive dissident images chronologically, using artificial intelligence and machine learning to train robots for aesthetic classification, moving beyond commercial or surveillance biases. The site captures, indexes, and publishes three daily top-liked images with hashtags like #designativista, #desenhospelademocracia, #mariellepresente, and #coleraalegria, focusing on digital collages, illustrations, and vernacular typography rather than memes. Prata highlights the importance of the #mariellepresente hashtag for its political and racial significance. The project's second phase, featuring curated images from six aesthetic categories, is scheduled for June. Prata emphasizes that the calendar offers a broader visual vocabulary than Instagram's algorithm-driven feed, revealing anonymous artists across Brazil.