Book Talk: Monumental Graffiti with Dr Rafael Schacter in conversation with Dr Natalie Morningstar
What is graffiti—vandalism, ornament, art? What if, rather than any of those things, we thought of graffiti as a monument? How would that change our understanding of graffiti, and, in turn, our understanding of monument? In Monumental Graffiti, curator and anthropologist Rafael Schacter focuses on the material, communicative, and contextual aspects of these two forms of material culture to provide a timely perspective on public art, citizenship, and the city today. He applies monument as a lens to understand graffiti and graffiti as a lens to comprehend monument, challenging us to consider what the appropriate monument for our contemporary world could be.
Dr Rafael Schacter is an Associate Professor in Anthropology and Material Culture at University College London. Working on public and global art, Schacter has an academic and public practice and writes and curates widely in both his research areas. Completing his PhD in Anthropology at UCL in 2011 and receiving a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship at the same institution from 2014-2017, today Schacter heads the world leading Material Culture section within the same department.
Dr Natalie Morningstar is a Fellow at Fitzwilliam College and an Affiliated Lecturer at the Department of Social Anthropology at Cambridge. She is a social anthropologist with an interest in activism, politics, subjectivity, housing, art, and inequality. Her research is concerned with activism and party politics in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. She is also undertaking research on how tenants build a sense of place and belonging in social and affordable housing estates in the UK.