The Unofficial Story and the People Who Paint It: An Investigation of Urban Artists' Mobilizing Power in Oaxaca and Mexico City
| dc.contributor.author | Siebert, Kendra Elizabeth | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2019-11-07T16:15:33Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2019-11-07T16:15:33Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2019 | |
| dc.description | 125 pages | |
| dc.description.abstract | Although parietal writing – the act of writing on walls – has existed for thousands of years, its contemporary archetype, urban art, emerged much more recently. An umbrella term for the many kinds of art that occupy public spaces, urban art can be accessed by whoever chooses to look at it, and has roots in the Mexican muralism movement that began in Mexico City and spread to other states like Oaxaca. After the end of the military phase of the Mexican Revolution in the 1920s, philosopher, writer and politician José Vasconcelos was appointed to the head of the Mexican Secretariat of Public Education. There, he found himself leading what he perceived to be a disconnected nation, and believed visual arts would be the means through which to unify it. In 1921, Vasconcelos proposed the implementation of a government-funded mural program with the intent of celebrating Mexico and the diverse identities that comprised it. The murals, which were initially painted by pioneering artists Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Siqueiros, were meant to be more than just aesthetic – they were expected to create a new nationalist identity which would ultimately support the government’s agenda and prevent civil discontent. Today, the legacy of these three artists lives on across Mexico, but the conversations surrounding urban art are evolving – specifically, in terms of its function in times of collective mobilization. Throughout more recent social movements across Oaxaca and Mexico City, urban artists have seen new potential in urban art, and have used it to represent what is really happening, when major media sources may become censored and/or corrupt. These artists, who are of every age, come from every background, and act largely anonymously, have left behind a different story of the history of social movements and popular demonstrations – one that I posit is the “unofficial” story of Mexico. This thesis is based on the question “What functions can urban art serve in social movements?” and is contextually rooted in two regions of Mexico: Oaxaca and Mexico City. Throughout the 12 chapters that follow, I explore the power of urban art in its influence on politics and culture through the perspectives of different artists working in Mexico. I raise questions about interpretation, authorship, commodification, censorship, and identity-formation. I discuss the relationship between urban art and gentrification. Ultimately, I attempt to get to the core function of urban art and argue that it is a valid area of scholarship in an increasingly digital age. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1794/25060 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | |
| dc.publisher | University of Oregon | |
| dc.rights | Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0-US | |
| dc.subject | Journalism: Advertising | en_US |
| dc.subject | Journalism | en_US |
| dc.subject | Reporting | en_US |
| dc.subject | Urban | en_US |
| dc.subject | Art | en_US |
| dc.subject | Graffiti | en_US |
| dc.title | The Unofficial Story and the People Who Paint It: An Investigation of Urban Artists' Mobilizing Power in Oaxaca and Mexico City | |
| dc.type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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