Documenting, analyzing, and archiving street art
responding to moments of friction and crisis
We are an interdisciplinary research team based at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Urban Art Mapping seeks to document, analyze, and archive street art responding to moments of friction and crisis. At this time, topics we explore include systemic racism, the Covid-19 pandemic, environmental challenges, and gentrification. Our goal is to arrive at a nuanced understanding of the relationship between street art and place, considering how art shapes and is shaped by unique neighborhoods.
Interdisciplinary
Research
Our collective backgrounds in folklore and cultural studies, geography, and art history shape the core methodology of our project. Through our research we seek to track responses to moments of crisis at locations associated with crisis, assessing text and images in the streets from a qualitative and a quantitative perspective.
Community-Based
Learning
Street art is ephemeral and fleeting, and it can reveal immediate responses to world events in a manner that can be raw, direct, and revealing. These visual expressions can help make externally visible what people think, believe, or feel both individually and in groups. Artists, activists, and community members help shape the archive through their documentary work and ongoing engagement with the project.
Educate
The study of street art is relevant to many disciplines in the humanities and the social sciences, including art history, cultural studies, geography, sociology, and urban planning. Our faculty directors engage students in an analysis of street art in our own classrooms, and we present our research to academic audiences and the broader community through conference presentations, lectures, and workshops. Educators around the world also use our archives in their teaching and research.
Listening is an essential part of the work our team does. In order to gain any understanding of the dynamics of street art and how it functions in communities, we need to listen to the people who created it, who encounter it, and those whose lives have been affected by it. We believe walls speak, but so do people – and we want to be there to hear as many stories as we can. Below are excerpts from interviews we have conducted in person and remotely with project collaborators – the dozens of folks who have been generous enough to share their stories with us.
Images from the Archives
Below are selected image excerpts from our archives. These visuals represent key moments and milestones in our history. We encourage you to explore these images that illustrate our commitment and progress.
September 22, 2022
The Black Lives Matter Memorial fence was a temporary chainlink fence installed in the area north of Lafayette Park and the White House from June 2, 2020, until January 30, 2021. The fence prevented public access to the area, and it also served as an important site of protest and self-expression. Activist Nadine Seiler played a crucial role in protecting and caring for the fence, along with Karen Irwin and other activists in a loosely-formed group informally known as the "Guardians of the Fence."
Some of the signs in this photo read "Know Justice Know Peace" and "Trump Must Go."
2020
This piece, composed of a stencil on the left and freehand writing on the right has become important to our team as it captures both an essential motif of the street art associated with the George Floyd Uprising and it makes a statement for why the art accompanying the movement is so important. Art on walls and boards and streets is a way to own and reiterate the narrative so that it doesn’t get forgotten or coopted. This piece was documented by one of our most important documenters, Sally Pemberton, who sent us images of hundreds of pieces of street art from the Twin Cities.
Barney Judge, 2022
The mural was organized by Trische Duckworth, Executive Director of the community organization Survivors Speak, along with Trevor Stone, the community builder at Nonprofit Enterprise at Work. Supplies were donated by Ace Hardware
2023
Graffiti written in black block letters on a stone façade reading "Nahël | Ni Oubli | Ni Pardon | ACAB" (Nahël | Neither Forget | Nor Forgive | ACAB
Nahël M., a 17-year-old of Algerian descent, was shot and killed by police during a traffic stop on June 27, 2023, in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris.
The Velvet Bandit, 2020
The Velvet Bandit emerged as a street artist in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and is very active in Northern California This small paste up reading ‘My Virus, My Choice’ takes a dig at the politicized responses to Covid-19 and resistance to government mandates, especially in the USA, where restrictions that are put in place based on scientific evidence and in the service of the public good are often challenged on political grounds. Follow @thevelvetbandit on Instagram, and check out thevelvetbandit.com
2020
Painted on plywood on the north side of the Lake Street Clinic, this piece is one of three in close proximity that seem to be in conversation. All three pieces have text that references hearing or seeing protesters and the effect of their actions. The bottom written text may have been written first in black and white the top text, “Rise Like Lions” was added later and exclamation points were added to the bottom text. This board also has a tag from Gho$t Man. It's unclear whether this writer is the creator of this piece.
2020
Graffiti in black spray paint reading "My Cries Are For Humanity," next to a stencil reading "We want peace/We want love/We want justice/We want equality."
Documented in George Floyd Square.
@citymischief, 2020
This piece was created the weekend of September 26th and 27th 2020 at a community art event and food drive organized by Victoria Theater @vtac_mn (Instagram), Creatives after Curfew @creativesaftercurfew (Instagram), City Mischief Murals @citymischief (Instagram)
A blue sky background with white clouds. Two hands are holding a red heart that reads: "No More Stolen Sisters #MMIW" (missing and murdered indigenous women). Yellow sunflowers and red bloody handprints decorate the murals. The bloody handprints or red handprints are a symbol for missing and murdered indigenous women. There is a medicine wheel in the lower left corner. "Information and Resources csvanw.org, nativewomenswilderness.org" is written on the bottom left corner.
Seitu Jones, 2020
Noted Twin Cities artist Seitu Jones created this stencil of George Floyd’s face and made it available online to anyone who wanted to use it. As a result, this stencil has been used in many locations across the city, across the country, and around the world. This specific instance was done by Seitu himself, who, in an interview with our team, explained that he bombed up and down University Avenue in the days after the uprising in St. Paul. As the attached paper sign suggests, this piece was painted on plywood covering a window on a commercial building that was open for business at the time it was documented.