Memory and protest graphics: Visual narratives of the Chilean popular uprising (2019–2020)

<jats:p>This article examines the 2019–2020 protests in Chile focusing on the explosion of graphic creativity as a key component of the broader set of protest tactics and practices. It analyses how graphic art in urban spaces mobilizes the memory of past conflicts and struggles and actively reworks it in the present, renewing political languages and identities. In doing so, it underscores that this ‘memory’ is not merely a passive recollection but an active, affirmative force that helps legitimize ongoing demands and rework past struggles for present purposes. The study seeks to understand the role of the past in current disputes and how social movements construct memories during moments of social and political conflict. Based on the analysis of 30 protest graphic images using the visual grounded theory methodology, this study identifies visual and textual elements that refer to previous conflictive moments in Chilean history. This approach identifies four major visual narratives that mobilize commemorative aspects in the graphics of social and political protest. The study reveals the importance of art, and particularly graphic art, as a mediator in the process of constructing political memory in the context of contemporary protests, using the Chilean case as an outstanding example of social and political confrontation.</jats:p>