I ‘graffi’ della protesta. Street art, barriere artificiali e forme di espressione del dissenso

Street art is any art – specifically visual art – developed in public spaces. It can include traditional graffiti artwork, stencil, sculpture, sticker art, street poster art, video projection, guerrilla art, flash mobbing, wheatpasting, etc. Typically, the term is used to refer to unsanctioned or “prohibited” art, as opposed to institutional artistic initiatives. So, is it possible to speak about street art as a form of protest art? If so, what are the signs, texts, codes and practices through which graffiti, stencils and other forms of street art can serve as means to express opposition and dissent? The present paper aims at answering these questions at first through a general historic introduction that will try to contextualize and describe the street art phenomenon and its evolution over time, then focusing on two specific case studies whose purpose is to investigate, from a semiotic point of view, its role in the expression of dissent and protest acts. Especially, we will deal with the use of graffiti, stencils and posters as means of protest against two very known and discussed examples of separation barriers.