Words of the Prophets treats graffiti as a form of political prophecy. Whether we consider austerity in Thessaloniki, Camorra infiltration in Naples, the fall of Communism in Gdansk, or the rise of gang warfare in Chicago, graffiti is a form of democratic self-expression that dates back to Periclean Athens and the Book of Daniel. Words of the Prophets offers close readings of 400 original photographs taken between 2014 and 2021 in Philadelphia, Venice, Milan, Florence, Syracuse, and Warsaw, alongside literary works by Pawel Huelle, films by Andrezj Wajda, Antonio Capua, and music videos by Natasha Bedingfield and Beyoncé. A third of the book is dedicated to interviews with Krik Kong, Iwona Zajac, Ponchee.193, Jay Pop, Ser, Simoni Fontana, and Mattia Campo DallOrto.
Preface
Acknowledgments
List of Figures
Introduction: from Kilroy Was Here to Krik Kong
Part 1
Four Murals and Their Environs
1Thessaloniki: a Born-Again Faith in Graffiti
1Graffiti in Thessaloniki, 2014
2Athens, Exarchia, and Missolonghi
2.1The Street Is My Gallery
3Exarchia
3.1St. Paul Six Years Later: Graffiti Has Now Become Inartistic
Sloganeering
3.2Messolonghi
4Conclusion
2Naples, Graffiti in Naples, or Rubbish Is Gold
1Two Visits to Naples
2Rubbish Is Gold: Three Films on Neapolitan Garbage
2.1We Want to Breathe! Its Our Right!
3Parking among the Corpses of Syracuse
4Approaching Florence
4.1Florence: Masterworks outside the Uffizi
4.2On Bullshit in Florence
5Venice
6Between Venice and Milan, 2020
7Approaching Milan
8Roma Termini
3Gdask: Remembering Solidarity
1An Unguided Tour of Gdask
2Krik Kong
3Solidarity Museum
4Courtesy Solidarity Museum, Gdask
5Fonts of Fascism, or the Heaviness of the Solidarity Museum
5.1Westerplatte Tour
5.2A Closer Look at Krik Kong
6My Interview with Krik Kong
6.1Art School vs. Street Knowledge
7Conclusion: from Andrez Wajdas Man of Iron to Warsaw
4Welcome to Chicago
1Welcome to Chicago/ We Can Change the World (1971)
1.1Welcome to Chicagoland: Redux
1.2Is Rap a Black Art Form
2Conclusion: Chicago, Philadelphia, New York
2.1Philadelphia
2.2New York
2.3One Last Mural
Part 2
Graffiti as Narrative Art
5Byron, Blake, and the George Floyd Protests: the Evolution of Fonts
1Lord Byron: Graffiti Artist
1.1Byrons Name at Ferrara
1.2Graffiti: Local and Global Practices
2Graffiti Practices in England
3Visions of Belshazzar: Ortygia, Syracuse, and the Book of Daniel
4Graffiti in the South Bronx
5Whos John Lennon?
6Lady Pink and Lord Byron: the Museum of Graffiti in Miami Beach
6Orozco, Pomona Colleges Prometheus
1Blake, Orozco, and the Graffiti/Mural Tradition
2The Parable of the Ten Virgins
3Lady Pink and the Art of Pointing
4George Floyd: Corporate Media, Graffiti, and the Visualizations of the
George Floyd Protests in 2020
5Calligraphy: from Istanbul to the South Bronx
6Hagia Sophia
7Words of the Prophets on Walls and Curtains
8Cultural Riches vs. Benign Neglect
7Conclusion
Appendix: In the Words of Contemporary Artists
Notes on Artists and Interviewers
References
Index
Jonathan Gross received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1992. A Professor at DePaul University, he has published monographs on Lord Byron, Anne Damer, and edited the letters of Lady Melbourne and Thomas Jefferson. His editions of the Sylph, Belmour, and Emma, or the Unfortunate Attachment highlight the achievements of women writers.
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