Space Production Through Graffiti: Understanding the 2013 Appropriation of Taksim in Context

Date

2023-4-20

Author

Bernardoni, Moira

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This study is about graffiti, an umbrella term for spatial practices such as mural writing and spray-painting. To evaluate their potential as sources in history of space from below, the case of İstanbul is examined from a broad perspective. In 2013, graffiti reached a historic peak in spread with the Gezi resistance, which started in Taksim-İstanbul. With the crackdown, they were erased. Censorship was nothing new to the local collective memory, nor was territorial marking via political slogans and collective signatures. Emerged in the 1960s and widespread in the 1970s, the practice halted following the 1980 coup but re-emerged in the late 1980s. Notwithstanding, the Gezi graffiti were mostly approached as a single case study. To investigate dis/continuity and address the gap in the research on graffiti in Turkey, the study first historicises the practice through an overview starting from the 1960s. Then, it contextualises graffiti drawing attention on space politics in İstanbul in the early 2010s, years of great visibility as global city. Lastly, it visualises how the Gezi resistance resulted in the appropriation of Taksim and turned it into a global street, i.e., space to reclaim the right to the city. Examined through Lefebvrian theory and concepts by Sassen, hundreds of graffiti collected via archival and street ethnographic research suggests two main findings. First, walls speak and echo resistance, especially when silenced. Second, graffiti mocking hegemonic power are historically correlated to graphic satire, and this suggests the need for further, collaborative research on transgenerational aspects of spatial resistance.

Subject Keywords

graffiti, Lefebvre/space production, İstanbul, Gezi/Taksim resistance, global city/global street

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/102806

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis