Twelfth International Conference on The Image

Abstract

Artists and writers creating work in the streets are in a unique position to respond quickly and effectively in a moment of crisis. Street art’s ephemeral nature often serves to reveal very immediate and sometimes fleeting political responses in a manner that can be raw and direct. At the same time, the context of a crisis, street art also has the potential to transform urban space and foster a sustained political dialogue, reaching a wide audience, particularly when museums are galleries are shuttered. For all of these reasons, it is not surprising to see an explosion of street art around the world created in response to the Covid-19 global pandemic, even as our movement in public spaces is limited due to public health concerns. The Urban Art Mapping Covid-19 Street Art database (https://covid19streetart.omeka.net/), the foundation of this paper, documents examples of Covid-19 related street art from around the world. After presenting the reasons, methods, and challenges of creating a digital street art archive, this study draws on images in the database to discuss the role of graffiti and street art in the context of a global health crisis in relation to politics on a global scale. This paper argues that street art, using a variety of visual and textual approaches, is uniquely positioned to provide a critical assessment of the structural inequities and human rights issues that are exacerbated in a time of crisis.