Dr Marcelle Trote Martins from the University of Manchester discusses her new book Affective Imageries: Visual Politics of Wounded Bodies in Timor-Leste (Bloomsbury 2024) with Roland Bleiker.

The conversation – and the book – discusses the political mobilization of images of wounded bodies in conflict and post-conflict societies. Focusing on the interaction of photography and poetry, the topics covered deal with how images of human rights violations in Timor-Leste were mobilised to gain international attention to promote the struggle for independence.  

Marcelle Trote Martins is a Lecturer in Critical Global Politics at the University of Manchester and a scholar of visual politics. She holds a PhD in Politics from the University of Manchester and master’s and undergraduate degrees in International Relations from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. Her research bridges international conflicts, security studies, and affect theory, with a particular focus on how visual and embodied experiences of war and displacement reconfigure political responses.

The interview took place as part of a seminar held on 11 March 2026 in the context of a series of events organised by the Visual Politics Program at the University of Queensland.