In today's digital age, images have emerged as powerful tools for politicians to engage with their voters on social media platforms. Visual content possesses a unique emotional appeal that often leads to increased user engagement. However, research on visual communication remains relatively limited, particularly in the Global South. This study aims to bridge this gap by employing a combination of computational methods and qualitative approach to investigate the visual communication strategies employed in a dataset of 11,263 Instagram posts by 19 Brazilian presidential candidates in 2018 and 2022 national elections. Through two studies, we observed consistent patterns across these candidates on their use of visual political communication. Notably, we identify a prevalence of celebratory and positively toned images. They also exhibit a strong sense of personalization, portraying candidates connected with their voters on a more emotional level. Our research also uncovers unique contextual nuances specific to the Brazilian political landscape. We note a substantial presence of screenshots from news websites and other social media platforms. Furthermore, text-edited images with portrayals emerge as a prominent feature. In light of these results, we engage in a discussion regarding the implications for the broader field of visual political communication. This article serves as a testament to the pivotal role that Instagram has played in shaping the narrative of two fiercely polarized Brazilian elections, casting a revealing light on the ever-evolving dynamics of visual political communication in the digital age. Finally, we propose avenues for future research in the realm of visual political communication.

翻译：在当今数字时代，图像已成为政治家与选民在社交媒体平台上互动的重要工具。视觉内容具有独特的情感吸引力，往往能带来更高的用户参与度。然而，关于视觉传播的研究仍相对有限，尤其是在全球南方地区。本研究旨在通过结合计算方法和定性分析，探讨2018年和2022年巴西19位总统候选人发布的11,263条Instagram帖子数据集中所采用的视觉传播策略。通过两项研究，我们观察到这些候选人在视觉政治传播使用上存在一致性模式。值得注意的是，我们发现喜庆和积极基调的图像占主导地位。这些图像还表现出强烈的个性化特征，将候选人与选民在情感层面更紧密地联系起来。我们的研究还揭示了巴西政治环境独有的情境化细节：大量内容来自新闻网站和其他社交媒体平台的截图。此外，经过文字编辑并包含人物肖像的图像成为显著特征。基于这些发现，我们探讨了其对更广泛的视觉政治传播领域的启示。本文证明了Instagram在塑造两场激烈对抗的巴西选举叙事中的关键作用，揭示了数字时代视觉政治传播不断演进的动态。最后，我们提出了视觉政治传播领域未来研究的方向。