Street art, which encompasses murals, graffiti, and paintings, is highly relevant in countries experiencing political and social crises. In Bangladesh, recent issues regarding street art demonstrate how it can serve as a form of protest, challenge authority, and spark discourse. Recently, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s mural at Dhaka University was erased at the administration’s behest. These works, which depicted social injustices and fascist inclinations, resonated with public outrage and underscored the fraught role of public art in articulating dissent. Beyond this immediate context, street art holds theoretical significance as a form of expression, resistance, and historical documentation.
In modern society, much of street art challenges societal norms and provokes dialogue. It acts as a bold expression, questioning authority, confronting stereotypes, and addressing pressing issues. Through its vivid and often provocative imagery, street art forces viewers to confront uncomfortable truths, serving as a catalyst for debate. Its accessibility ensures it reaches diverse audiences, enabling spontaneous interactions and fostering a sense of shared ownership within urban spaces. As pedestrians encounter these works, they become participants—active or passive—in a communal conversation.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star’s Google News channel. Street art also transcends traditional artistic boundaries, transforming urban environments into open galleries that invite engagement from all. Unlike institutional art housed in exclusive galleries, street art democratises expression by making bold, impactful designs available to everyone. This inclusivity ensures that its messages resonate across socioeconomic and demographic divides, sparking dialogue on social and political issues. As a form of social activism, street art raises awareness, challenges norms, and inspires collective action.
Graffiti is especially significant in (post)conflict societies. It reflects the dynamics of peace and conflict, providing insight into the everyday interactions of communities. Graffiti’s presence—or absence—on walls reveals much about a region’s struggles, history, and imagination. Its messaging chronicles and shapes public memory of historical traumas and glories. For instance, the July uprising graffiti across Bangladesh is a stark reminder of the Sheikh Hasina regime’s autocratisation and its brutal operations against students and the general public.
Moreover, street art often functions as a symbolic reclaiming of public spaces, challenging capitalist and authoritarian structures. Globally, artists have used walls to voice dissent and highlight demands for change. During the Arab Spring, graffiti transformed public spaces into powerful mediums for expressing political and social grievances. This act of defiance against authority underscores the artist’s role as a resistance actor, leveraging the (il)legality of altering public spaces to challenge existing power structures.
Graffiti also contributes to the politics of memory, intertwining state and non-state narratives. By commemorating martyrs, myths, and traumas, street art shapes collective identity and public memory. Graffiti can bring state and non-state voices to the politics of memory, contradicting or supporting official narratives about the past.
A defining feature of street art is its democratisation of expression. It reclaims public spaces from governmental or commercial control. However, the removal of politically charged imagery undermines this democratic value, sterilising public spaces and stifling meaningful discourse.
Street art’s relationship with time underscores its significance. As Read and Mac Ginty (2017) assert, “time is relational, always connected to understandings of the past, future, and present.” Graffiti painted at specific moments reflects both historical conflicts and visions for the future. It allows communities to navigate complex histories, envision peace, and document violence. This temporal connection ensures that street art remains a vital medium for historical documentation and collective identity.
In the case of Bangladesh, street art is critical; it is a form of dissent, a chronicle of history, and a call to action. The erasure of politically charged street art is more than an aesthetic decision—it suppresses conversation, memory, and collective identity. These nuanced forms of resistance must be remembered to build a just and equitable society.
Md Tariqul Islam Tanvir is Erasmus scholar in the International Master in Central & East European, Russian & Eurasian Studies programme at the University of Glasgow.
Views expressed in this article are the author’s own.
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