I guess it depends on your definition of street art. If it’s enough to be art appearing in urban spaces, on walls and pavements. Or if there has to be an element of illegality in it too. in that case, these political messages on the walls in Monrovia couldn’t me called street art. They were painted on the walls around the Environmental Protection Agency, or the office of a political party. Not illegal, but, in a sense, propaganda on otherwise empty urban spaces. I like them.
“Environmental protection is everybody’s business” and “Yes, we can feed ourselves”. Messages I agree with. And even if the art isn’t very sophisticated, there is something heart-warming about it.
They did the same in Burkina Faso. Messages promoting literacy and condemning littering and female genital mutilation. In a world where urban space has not yet been drowned in advertisements, and literacy is low, walls are covered in political cartoon messages instead. Any peaceful way to get your message out, right? I can’t help but like it.
Katja Malmborg 