From character to hero. Visual strategies of representation in Russian street art
EDN: DOYDFB
Abstract
This article examines the transformation of visual strategies of character representation in illegal graffiti and street art, as well as in institutionalised muralism. It focuses on figurative imagery as a distinct mode of visual expression through which shifts in regimes of urban visibility, authorial autonomy, and visual politics in Russian cities can be traced. The first part of the article explores the character as a borderline visual element positioned between the subcultural logic of name-writing in graffiti and the public legibility of images in street art. Although non-figurative forms quantitatively dominate, characters in graffiti become key sites for the problematisation of subjectivity and the claim to the right to the city. The second part analyses muralism as a legalised form of street art that actively incorporates strategies of urban commemoration and normative communication, while still allowing for instances of authorial originality. The turn towards anthropomorphic imagery in institutional muralism is interpreted not as a replacement of graffiti and street art, but as evidence of shifting regimes of visibility surrounding illegal art and the changing functions of characters within the urban environment. The theoretical framework draws on the concept of the right to the city and its regimes of presence and absence, as interpreted by Marcia Tiburi, alongside the works of Henri Lefebvre, Jan Assmann, and contemporary street art scholarship. The interdisciplinary methodology combines visual analysis, historiographical review, a case study of a Russian city, sociological and anthropological approaches, comparative analysis, and the study of the author’s own creative practice.
About the Authors
Maria Yu. Ushakova
Independent researcher; “Nuvo” Bureau of Public Art Projects and Sociocultural Design
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Anna A. Chusova
European University, Saint Petersburg; Street Art Research Institute
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
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Review
For citations:
Ushakova M.Yu., Chusova A.A. From character to hero. Visual strategies of representation in Russian street art. Urban Folklore and Anthropology. 2026;8(1):92-127. (In Russ.) EDN: DOYDFB
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