Revealing the Invisible: Visual and Audiovisual Forms in the World-Building of Religion
Révéler l’invisible : formes visuelles et audiovisuelles dans la fabrication des mondes religieux
Published on Monday, April 27, 2026
Abstract
This panel, part of the 2027 conference of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion (ISSR), explores the relationships between visual cultures, audiovisual approaches, religions and contemporary spiritualities. It brings together contributions examining images not only as research tools but as performative practices that shape religious communities and imaginaries. Proposals incorporating image corpora are welcome.
Announcement
Argument
Visual and audiovisual productions do more than document religion: they produce it. Devotional images, portraits of spiritual leaders, and representations of rituals and pilgrimages contribute to building communities, delineating symbolic boundaries and mediating the sacred. As performative practices, visual productions shape worlds: they define what becomes visible and sayable, create shared imaginaries and draw the contours of the thinkable.
This performativity depends on who produces the image. Artists, researchers and religious practitioners make different aspects of religion and spirituality visible and generate distinct forms of knowledge. Attention to the conditions of image production — authorial positions, artist-researcher collaborations, images produced by religious actors themselves — is central to understanding how visual regimes participate in the construction and circulation of religious meanings.
This panel explores the relationships between visual cultures, religions and contemporary spiritualities in a context marked by fragmentation and the rise of authoritarianism. It welcomes approaches to visual production not only as methodological tools but also as operators of meaning. It invites contributions grounded in ethnographic work as well as reflections on emerging technologies, the sensory and spatial dimensions of religious experience, and non-textual forms of scientific expression.
Contributions may address, but are not limited to:
- Visual and audiovisual practices as performative acts of religion
- Conditions of production: authorial positions, artist-researcher collaborations, images produced by religious actors
- Visual and audiovisual methodologies in the study of religions (photo elicitation, photovoice, ethnographic film, emerging technologies)
- Visual regimes in tension: iconoclasm, prohibitions on representation, construction of religious otherness
- Photography, resistance and the visibility of religious minorities
- Imaginaries of crisis and salvation
- Contemporary visual art and the recomposition of the spiritual
This panel welcomes theoretical and empirical contributions, as well as proposals incorporating image corpora or audiovisual productions as central elements of the argument.
Proposal may be sent in English or in French.
Timeline
- Call for papers: 10 April / 10 June 2026
- Notification of the paper acceptance: 10 July 2026
- Registration deadline: 30 October 2026
- Conference : February 15-20, 2027
Session Conveners
- Espínola, María Rocío - CEIL-CONICET / UNGS - mrocioespinola@gmail.com
- Monjeau Castro, Catalina – CEIL-CONICET - catalinamonjeau@gmail.com
- Suárez, Hugo José - Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México - hugojose@unam.mx
- Teinturier, Sara - Université de Sherbrooke – sara.teinturier@usherbrooke.ca
- Tribilsi, Leonel Salomón - CEIL-CONICET / UBA - tribilsi@gmail.com
- Rougeon, Marina - Université catholique de Lyon - mrougeon@univ-catholyon.fr
Subjects
Places
- Buenos Aires, Argentina
Event attendance modalities
Full on-site event
Date(s)
- Wednesday, June 10, 2026
Attached files
Keywords
- visual studies, audiovisual studies, photography, sociophotography
Contact(s)
- Sara Teinturier
courriel : sara [dot] teinturier [at] usherbrooke [dot] ca - Leonel Salomón Tribilsi
courriel : tribilsi [at] gmail [dot] com
Reference Urls
Information source
- Sara Teinturier
courriel : sara [dot] teinturier [at] usherbrooke [dot] ca
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Revealing the Invisible: Visual and Audiovisual Forms in the World-Building of Religion », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Monday, April 27, 2026, https://doi.org/10.58079/164xr
