Graffiti has the power to express underlying social and political messages from minority societies. I’m currently very interested in minority identities and voices within Berlin. I hope to gain an insight into this concept through the medium of street art. I’m still in the very early stage of forming my ideas because i’ve come across so many cool concepts and directions my research could take. I’m hoping keeping an open mind will benefit my project. My current methodology ideas include surveying peoples’ opinions of certain street art images and what they perceive the message is trying to convey.
I hope to be able to interview an actual German street artist and question his or her motives and messages. I’m curious to see whether their purpose matches up with the perceived message. I also want to explore the general attitude towards graffiti. Do people think it’s art or vandalism? I also hope to find a professor at Humbolt that is familiar with my topic and could give me direction advice and research information.
The assigned text gave me some more insight to graffiti. It’s currently being "used mainly by young men from lower classes to gain public esteem through quantity, willingness to take risks, and dispersion of their pieces”. I love the idea that "urban art as both a manifestation of the self and a practice of resistance”. I think the coexistence of these two concepts is really powerful. This article gave me a lot of foundation on my topic, through the discussion of urban art in social protests and overall creative activism. Other research I have done include viewing images of Berlin street art. I still have a lot of work to do, but I’m really excited and interested in my topic.
Text: Creative Activism and Art (2014) Eva Youkhana
I hope to be able to interview an actual German street artist and question his or her motives and messages. I’m curious to see whether their purpose matches up with the perceived message. I also want to explore the general attitude towards graffiti. Do people think it’s art or vandalism? I also hope to find a professor at Humbolt that is familiar with my topic and could give me direction advice and research information.
The assigned text gave me some more insight to graffiti. It’s currently being "used mainly by young men from lower classes to gain public esteem through quantity, willingness to take risks, and dispersion of their pieces”. I love the idea that "urban art as both a manifestation of the self and a practice of resistance”. I think the coexistence of these two concepts is really powerful. This article gave me a lot of foundation on my topic, through the discussion of urban art in social protests and overall creative activism. Other research I have done include viewing images of Berlin street art. I still have a lot of work to do, but I’m really excited and interested in my topic.
Text: Creative Activism and Art (2014) Eva Youkhana