HomeCollegesCollegesCollege of Arts and Creative EnterprisesClustersprojectsWriting on the Walls Street art and cultural context in the MENA region

Writing on the Walls Street art and cultural context in the MENA region

By Sabrina DeTurk

Since 2011 the use of street art as a tool of political discourse and protest in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has received substantial attention in the popular and critical press as well as through social media outlets.  There is a tendency in these discussions to generalize, to speak of street art in the Middle East as a uniform entity with similar styles and goals in locations throughout the region.  However, the reality is much different, with artists throughout the MENA region adopting not only specific visual styles in the street art they produce in different countries but also, and quite significantly, in the political and social motivations and purposes of this artwork. The role that street art plays throughout the MENA region is shaped within countries not only by specific political situations but also by artistic tradition, public sentiment and economic drivers. This project considers the role of street art in the MENA region and examines the roots of the practice in each area, the visual style of the work produced and the culturally and geographically specific functions that street art fulfills in several countries including Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. The project resulted in the publication of Street Art in the Middle East (I.B. Tauris, 2019).

Acknowledgements

This project would not have been possible without the support of many colleagues and fellow researchers who commented on various drafts and sections of the work in progress, notably Asma Bukhammas, Meriem McKenzie, Malak Quota, Sarina Wakefield, Woodman Taylor and fellow members of the Patterns in the MENA Region research cluster.

Photos

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Researcher Bio

Dr. Sabrina DeTurk is currently Associate Professor of Art History and Assistant Dean for Research and Outreach in the College of Arts and Creative Enterprises at Zayed University in Dubai.  Dr. DeTurk’s research interests center on art as a form of social commentary and on cross-cultural currents between the art of the Middle East and the West from the Renaissance to the present day.  Her book Street Art in the Middle East was published in 2019 by I.B. Tauris. She has previous publications in various journals, including Afterimage and Art in the Public Sphere, and has presented papers at numerous international conferences. Dr. DeTurk previously held faculty and administrative positions at Saint Joseph’s University, La Salle University, and Salem College. Dr. DeTurk received her BA in the History of Art from Wellesley College and her MA and PhD in the History of Art from Bryn Mawr College.