What is street art? Street art is a unique form of art found on the streets and is intended to impart emotions, stir opinions, or invalidate social injustices. Street art is a tool for self-expression and is created and displayed in public spaces for public visibility. Unlike other structured types of art, such as sculpture, literature, and theatre, street art allows everyone to express their ideas and feelings through public art painted in public spaces.
A street artist can be done by anyone burdened with emotions that warrant informing the general public. That street artist can be anyone: a male, a female, a young person, or an older one, anyone with a burning concern, whether loved or loathed. Street art arouses the general public’s opinion and awareness concerning contemporary matters in their society. For instance, the portrait of a homeless mother with a child on her lap can evoke emotions and increase public awareness regarding the housing crisis in society.
Because street art is publicaly viewed, its effect is so profound and everlasting. Images painted by amateur persons on walls and in other public settings can stir public debates and demand swift actions from ruling authorities. Grass root social and political movements utilize street art and generate murals and graffiti that shed light on cruelty that befalls persons or communities. Both murals and graffiti are street art forms, although many consider graffiti to be vandalism, not a type of art. By definition, “A mural is a painting or other work of art executed directly on a wall”, while “Graffiti is writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place.”
Street artists utilize murals and graffiti to draw attention to contemporary issues in their society or in a particular community of that society. (There are other types of street art, but this brief article does not attempt to cover all kinds of street art.) Street artists wield a power to reckon with; they visually convey powerful messages taken seriously by democratic authorities. “Street art also democratizes art and provides an opportunity for everyone at all levels of society to view art for free in an accessible setting.”
Street art informs the public of some social, economic, or political ailments in their society, shames actions done by those in power, and demands justice for wronged citizens.