Reescreve a Tradição Rejeita a Conversão
João Sousa, Joana Teles, Marta Cabral and Rafael Pinho
The campaign “Rewrite Tradition, Reject Conversion” turns research on SOCE (sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts) into a visual response aimed at both queer and Catholic communities, seeking to raise awareness in both without gratuitous provocation.
The concept rests on three axes. The first is chromatic and typographic: a vibrant pink recalls the semiotics of historic campaigns such as Silence = Death, denouncing the lethal consequences of silence around SOCE in Portugal, while a condensed bold and a classic serif typeface, both designed by queer type designers, reinforce identification with the target communities. The second is erasure as a political gesture: manual intervention on verses from Leviticus and Romans applies the logic of “re-telling”, returning agency to the subject in the face of religious or medical dogma. The third subverts the classical canon, evoking figures such as David and Jonathan to expose the affective diversity historically erased by the selectiveness of tradition.
These principles take shape in three graphic formats: street posters with careful interventions on the verses, prioritizing image and slogan; leaflets that hand the erasure over to the reader, inviting them to interpret and intervene; and a booklet supporting an interview.
Imprint / Technical Rider:
Year: 2026
Dimensions: posters 297 × 420 mm · booklet 100 × 100 mm · leaflet 148 × 210 mm
Materials: Card stock, pink paper and Munken Pure.
Production and finishing: Digital printing: posters in black only, leaflets in color.
Resources and credits: Fonts: Queering, Adelphe. Illustrations: paintings of David and Jonathan, used to subvert the classical canon. Original texts: biblical excerpts from Leviticus and Romans, altered through manual erasure. Quotations: Costa (2021), Aragão (2025) and Santos (2026). Interview with Miguel Salazar.
Curricular Unit:
Project and Research Methodologies (1st year)
Supervising Professor:
Diniz Cayolla Ribeiro
Keywords: Erasure, Activism, Identity, Subversion
See this project in the Material Archive interactive archive →