For more than a decade, Alexis Lerner combed the alleyways, underpasses, and public squares of cities once under communist rule, from Berlin in the west to Vladivostok in the east, recording thousands of cases of critical and satirical political street art and cataloging these artworks linguistically and thematically across space and time. Complemented by first-hand interviews with leading artists, activists, and politicians from across the region, Post-Soviet Graffiti provides theoretical reflection on public space as a site for political action, a semiotic reading of signs and symbols, and street art as a form of text.
The book answers the question of how we conceptualize avenues of dissent under authoritarian rule by showing how contemporary graffiti functions not only as a popular public aesthetic, but also as a mouthpiece of political sentiment, especially within the post-Soviet region and post-communist Europe. A purposefully anonymous and accessible artform, graffiti is an effective tool for circumventing censorship and expressing political views. This is especially true for marginalized populations and for those living in otherwise closed and censored states.
Post-Soviet Graffiti reveals that graffiti does not exist in a vacuum; rather, it can be read as a narrative about a place, the people who live there, and the things that matter to them.
Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Preface and Acknowledgments
Notes
On Naming Creators
On "Post-Soviet"
On Naming Cities
On Graffiti vs. Street Art
On Technique
On Transliteration
On Methods
Introduction
Part I: An Oral History of Post-Soviet Graffiti
1. The Origins of Soviet and Post-Soviet Public Art
2. External Interference
3. Artistic Political Backlash
Part II: Fundamental Questions about Post-Soviet Graffiti
4. Why the Public Space Is Conducive to Political Graffiti
5. Signs and Symbols as a Form of Political Expression
6. Street Art as Text
Part III: Interpreting Graffiti
7. The Political
8. The Social
9. Who Controls Discourse?
Conclusion: The Future of Political Graffiti
Appendix
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author :
Alexis Lerner is an assistant professor of political science at the US Naval Academy.
Review :
"Bold, urgent, and thought-provoking, Post-Soviet Graffiti tours post-Soviet cityscapes to reveal street art as a powerful site of artistic exchange between artists and authoritarian regimes. Alexis Lerner writes powerfully and persuasively to peel back the layers of contestation and co-optation that graffiti forces into the public sphere. Students and scholars of culture, politics, and urban studies will find this an essential read."
Ian Garner, Assistant Professor of Totalitarian Studies, Pilecki Institute
"The idea behind this book is deceptively simple: that graffiti are a tool for reflecting the issues that concern a community. But there the simplicity ends: in fieldwork carried out between 2009 and 2019, Lerner photographed graffiti in cities in the former Soviet space, interviewed artists, attended lectures, toured exhibitions, and visited art collectives. The result is a book that provides both precious evidence for free speech under authoritarian rule and a theoretical reflection on public space as a site for political action."
Sidney Tarrow, Professor Emeritus of Government, Cornell University, Author of Power in Movement (2022)
"Relying on extensive regional fieldwork and first-hand interviews with artists, Post-Soviet Graffiti sheds light on the nuanced ways in which graffiti can serve as an important mode of free expression in closed political spaces. In it, Alexis Lerner offers a thoughtful and fresh take on this important yet underexplored avenue of contestation in authoritarian contexts."
Erica Frantz, Associate Professor of Political Science, Michigan State University
"Alexis Lerner provides a riveting exploration of the use (and misuse) of graffiti in Russia and the post-Soviet space. What started as a source of free expression and social criticism has morphed into corporatism and state co-option. Even Vladimir Putin recognized the power of unregulated graffiti and brought it in-house. A compelling narrative accompanied by dozens of photos, Lerner takes the reader on a guided tour that not only describes the power of street art, but also opens one's eyes to its possibilities."
William E. Pomeranz, Senior Fellow, Wilson Centre
