Appropriating City Spaces: Exploring Practice, Process and Policy in Aboriginal Street Art

"In this thesis I analyze the city of Toronto’s graffiti management policies, constructing street art as a new commons to offer a means of understanding cultural production, appropriation, and resistance within the regulated environment. Using the case of 7th Generation Image Makers, an Aboriginal street art organization based in Toronto, this thesis deconstructs street art as cultural commons, arranged through neighbourhood and knowledge commons. Through interviews conducted with artists, group discussions, and document analysis, this thesis offers an opportunity to develop a new context for understanding street art as a space for both cultural production and resistance. Created within these policy structures, 7th Generation murals present street art as a space for decolonization, education, and community building. Moreover, the production of specific Aboriginal teachings, environments, and histories in such a mode challenges the marginalization of Aboriginal peoples in urban centres and Canadian society, requiring a reflection on explicit cultural resistance that makes use of hegemonic structures."

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