Walls of change: the role of public art in shaping khartoum’s 2019 sit-in space

Abstract

This article examines the transformative role of public art—particularly murals and graffiti—during Sudan’s 2018–2019 revolution, with a specific focus on the Khartoum sit-in outside the military headquarters. Grounded in theories of counter-publics, spatial production, and protest aesthetics, the study investigates how visual culture shaped the uprising’s symbolic, spatial, and political dynamics. Drawing on field surveys, semi-structured interviews, and visual questionnaires, it analyzes 89 artworks across six key sit-in locations. The findings reveal that public art operated as a powerful tool for political expression, collective memory, and cultural identity. More than that, it reconfigured urban space into a site of resistance and community engagement, inspiring a new way of thinking about public spaces. The study challenges assumptions of spontaneity and highlights the strategic placement of murals and graffiti in shaping protest geographies. This article positions Sudan’s revolutionary art within global urban and visual movements, emphasizing art’s power to effect meaningful change and contributing to understanding how creative interventions in urban spaces can catalyze political mobilization, reinforce collective identities, and transform contested sites into arenas of resistance and community engagement during periods of social upheaval.