Theatricality and Tropical Autocracy: Thinking with Alexander Apóstol’s Régimen: Dramatis Personae

Abstract: Alexander Apóstol’s Régimen: Dramatis Personae (2017–18) stages “tropical autocracy” as political theater, exposing the performative logic of populist power in Venezuela and beyond. In a composition of sixty-five black-and-white portraits, Apóstol assembles a diverse pantheon—from dictators and first ladies to persecuted bureaucrats and grieving mothers—revealing how autocracy scripts social life through gendered and ideological typologies. Echoing Susan Sontag’s reflections on fascism’s allure, Apóstol uses theatrical pose and queer gesture to unravel the desires underpinning authoritarian spectacle. Through his work, Venezuela’s revolutionary modernity becomes a stage where history, politics, and performance merge in a critique of contemporary autocratic imaginaries.