What do the walls tell us? Street art and its potential for developing critical thinking

Abstract

Since its beginnings, graffiti culture has preserved a communicational function with an interventionist and denunciatory character. This culture takes place mainly in large cities and in public places that can be both peripheral and highly visible. Recognising that this form of expression has not lost its original characteristics has undergone changes in line with the social, political, cultural and economic changes in societies and suggests a renewed look at the potential it offers for education in the city. With the theoretical support of the perspectives of historical-dialectical materialism, this article seeks to answer the question of how this street art can be translated into an educational potential insofar as it can develop critical thinking about often controversial social issues. Methodologically, the study carried out in the city of Porto is essentially based on the ethnographic method, supported by visual techniques such as photography. In the data analysis carried out here, we specifically explored the expressions of this art form in relation to the social issue of housing. The results suggest that the freer context of the street encourages the development of expression through the latent demands of each artist.