Graffiti And Cultural Production In Contemporary Cairo: Articulating Local And Global Elements Of Popular Culture

Transcript

The recent uprisings in the Arab World are indicators of continuous contestation of authoritarianregimes, a continuing process that leaves its mark on the field of cultural production. Revolutionary graffitirepresent a dynamic self-expression practice of public opinion in Cairo, Egypt, during and in the aftermath of the2011 Revolution. As a medium of both communication and subversion, residing at the intersection of art andtransgression, graffiti largely serve to re-appropriate the public space and their popularity is mainly due to thethemes addressed and their relevance to issues of everyday life. But can this re-appropriation be seen as morethan just a socio-political territory marking of the city? Can graffiti be integrated into a discussion about culturein the Arab World?