Claiming a new citizenship on Dhaka’s walls: Gen Z’s visual self-expression in July movement graffiti and wall art

Abstract

During Bangladesh's July Movement, students employed graffiti and wall art as a dynamic form of communication and resistance, transforming it from a purely political tool to a means of individual and collective self-expression. During this period of change, Gen Z turned public walls into sites that represented their identities, complaints, and aspirations by incorporating wit, internet culture, and symbols into graffiti. Despite having all the critical attention on the study graffiti of July, a significant research gap exists in understanding how it functions as a deliberate performance of a new, self-authorized political identity by Gen Z, rather than just a reactionary protest tool. This research aims to fill that gap by analyzing the protest graffiti and wall writings of the July Movement to identify the ways in which Gen Z creates a new vision of being a citizen. Hence, this study uses qualitative analysis by drawing on images collected through field documentation in Dhaka (July-August 2024) and applying frameworks from Roland Barthes and Charles Sanders Peirce to analyze aesthetic, textual, and rhetorical shifts. The key findings reveal a fundamental transformation in Bangladesh’s visual rhetoric of protest. The study identifies a shift from a tradition of centralized imagery to a new language of decentralized and culturally hybrid expression. This analysis shows that Gen Z’s artistic expression performs three arguments. First, they assert political legitimacy through directly showing themselves in action as “Auditor-Citizens.” Second, they lay out a proactive plan for an alternative nation by showing themselves as “the change.” Third, they demand their hybrid cultural identity to be accepted as a valid foundation for political action. The study’s conclusion states that their graffiti signifies the performance of a new, self-historicizing citizenship, signifying a departure from top-down political culture and reaffirming Gen Z’s position as Bangladesh’s future architects.