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HAVING AN IMAGE TO EXIST PUBLICLY Collective action of the landless in Brazil In this article the author questions the relationship between visibility and collective action. The construction of visibility is an unavoidable step in the process of collective action. It is accomplished in different ways, primarily through the experience of the gaze. By analysing the landless peasant movement in Brazil, we see how the actors are able to construct a visibility that guarantees them public recognition despite the negative image projected by the Brazilian media. To fuel convictions and construct a collective identity - in this case to become visible to themselves as landless peasants -, they have to constitute experiences of sharing and 'living together'? in which symbols are celebrated and a different, idealized future is seen and lived through their action.