the walls are screaming | juliaburns.com

JULIA BURNS

THE WALLS ARE SCREAMING
Text and photo series

Medialab Madrid January 2005
Conde Duque Cultural Centre and ARS
Banquete Annual Exhibition 2005

Forum of Barcelona August 2004
The World Youth Festival 2004

Fascist. Marxist. Anarachist.

A textual and photographic presentation of ideological and political graffiti. The aim is to bring attention to the presence of graffiti left behind by the generation after Franco, and the development of its context and image.

We documented the presence of political graffiti at The University of Complutense, Madrid. The photos are taken from the political science and sociology faculties. The buildings were originally commissioned by General Franco, fascist dictator of Spain, 1936-1975.

The documented graffiti was created between the final years of the Franco Regime up until present day. The photographs were taken in 2004 and 1988.

We determined the specific dates and ideological groups represented by the graffiti with the help of anthropologist, Dr. Fernando Figueroa.

The map below features a field study of the university campus. Coloured pie-charts represent the recorded percentage of interventions of graffiti made by different ideological groups. The dominant groups of graffiti interventions have been split into categories according to beliefs and political attitudes. These categories include: Fascist, Anarchist, Marxist, Basque Movement, Gay, and groups centered around global and peace issues.

These photos are taken from the site.

The colored photographs were taken by us in 2005.
The black and white ones were taken in 1988.

We retrieved them from the University Archives.
The images are taken from the same walls.

This first black and white image is a graffiti made during 'La Movida Madrilena' (early 80's), a movement that swept Barcelona and Madrid after the death of Franco. It is known as a time of increased awareness and support for sexual freedom, and cultural initiatives. The film director Almodovar is acclaimed for his florid depiction of this period.

The text reads, "Vive el orgasmo democrata... un nino, un voto".
In 2004 the same wall has been reconstructed and safety rails have been installed.

In this image from the late 1970's, a civilian sits on a canon waiving a flag.
The image has been painted with a brush in a Marxist style.

On the same wall 3 decades later, the wall has been re-painted and then more recent tags have been covered once again.

A natural evolution.

Hip Hop graffiti covers a critical, political based image created almost two decades ago.

Current day conversations on the door of a male toilet stall. Once again, different ideological groups are represented. The bold white inscription means “Revolution“ in Basque.