Abstract

This essay examines the ways revolutionary desire was articulated and interpreted through graffiti in Cairo, Egypt during the Arab Spring and its immediate aftermath. For writers in Cairo, graffiti was one of many in a constellation of resistances that undermined everyday life in Hosni Mubarak’s Egypt and the SCAF-controlled interim government. Ordinary surfaces of the city were illegally marked, displaying revolutionary potentiality by allowing the seemingly powerless rhetorical openings of engagement. Far from being a monolithic discourse, graffiti created geographies of material protest that were locally enacted but globally contextualized. Political graffiti, like the overall protests of the Arab Spring, emerged in large numbers at particular moments, but its numerous roots spread distinctly into the past. First contextualizing Cairo graffiti as a tool for revolutionary protest, the article then examines specific writers (Mahmoud Graffiti, Ganzeer), particular ‘battleground' spaces (Tahrir Square, Mohamed Mahmoud Street), different graffiti mutations (tags, pieces, murals) and contrary aesthetic manipulations of the form (‘No Walls’ campaign, graffiti advertisements by multinational corporations) in order to assemble a graffiti scene in Cairo as it follows the ebbs and flows of revolutionary desire.

Highlights

  • In 2011, shortly after the euphoria of Hosni Mubarak’s ousting from the Egyptian presidency had diminished with the Supreme Council of the Military Forces’ (SCAF) constriction of the democratic process, graffiti writers offered their pointed commentary on the state of Egypt, painting walls throughout Cairo

  • In a wall battle that would mirror what was happening in the larger political activities of Cairo and Egypt, the piece was again altered in February 2012 and the conversation, an argument, continued

  • SCAF loyalists identifying themselves as members of the Badr Team 1, destroyed the piece, whitewashing the protesters, the bloody crushed victims, the bicyclist and Sad Panda

Read more

Summary

Introduction

In 2011, shortly after the euphoria of Hosni Mubarak’s ousting from the Egyptian presidency had diminished with the Supreme Council of the Military Forces’ (SCAF) constriction of the democratic process, graffiti writers offered their pointed commentary on the state of Egypt, painting walls throughout Cairo.

Results
Conclusion
Full Text
Paper version not known

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.