writing assignment
Graffiti and Street Art
Forms of public contestation
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An old tradition : Village Wall Art
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Wall Art In a Tunisian village
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Graffiti and the Arab Spring
A new way to claim the streets (walls of the people, walls of freedom);
Wall art is a satirical weapon in the hands of youth who attempt to redefine notions such as “public” and “politics”;
Objectives: using wall art to debate, mobilize, create awareness, promote political opinions, present alternative means of communication, etc.
Aesthetics: simple use of spray paint to write words vs. complex ways of using spray paint to create wall art;
State retaliation: wiping down political graffiti, prohibiting and criminalizing street art, arresting artists, etc.
International outreach: books, articles, blogs celebrate its emergence
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Two Betrayed the Square: SCAF and the MB
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Down with the Military and the Muslim Brothers
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Tunisian Graffiti
http:// observers.france24.com/fr/20110527-revolution-tunisienne-bombe-murs-pays-graffitis-tunis-art-urbain-Ahl-El-Kahf
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Tunisian Street Art
http://beautifuldecay.com/2012/08/30/arabic-graffiti-from-tunisian-artist-el-seed /
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LYBIAN GRAFFITI
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Egyptian Street Art
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“The streets of the revolution were our world; and the street art of the revolution expressed and celebrated our world. It blossomed on the walls, speaking for us and to us, a miraculous manifestation of the creative energy the revolution had released across the country.”
Ahdaf Soueif, Foreword to Walls of Freedom (2014)
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26 September 2012: Revolution never dies!
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Wiping away Memory : Sept. 2012
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The Paradox of Dystopia: the Square of the Martyrs vs. The Graffiti of the Martyrs
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Martyrs...
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...and Mothers
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Artists as Freedom Fighters
Alaa Awad and Ammar Abou Bakr
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The wall vs. the Power-block
“The wall records how Egypt’s artists, both ancient and contemporary, commemorate their martyrs.
(…)
Only the wall has the power to reach the minds of everyday people passing by. The wall brings Egyptians closer to the revolution and further from its many enemies. Enemies of the revolution amass cultural capital to alienate the people from the spirit of the revolution and to discredit its goals. They use both satellite media from above and counter-revolutionary forces on the ground.”
Ahmed Aboul Hassan, Walls of Freedom (2014: 134)
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