Methodological pathways for documenting Graffiti Writing and Street Art

animation as the convergence of physical and digital urban spaces

Abstract

This paper explores animation's potential as a documentation and dissemination solution for street art and graffiti Writing practices. Through qualitative comparative analysis of five case studies, it examines how animation techniques capture the multifaceted aspects of urban art cultures while bridging physical and digital territories.

The analysis investigates four methodological trajectories. Selina Miles's collaborative works INFINITE and LIMITLESS (2013) demonstrate ‘time-compression’ techniques that preserve graffiti Writing's cultural dimensions through strategic documentation collaboration. María Lorenzo's Urban Sphinx (2020) employs photographic stop-motion to animate year-long street art archives, revealing temporal preservation strategies while addressing decontextualization challenges through multi-sensory approaches. The student-led Byofa (2023) illustrates narrative reconstruction through 2D frame-by-frame animation combined with live-action interviews, balancing expressive interpretation with testimonial fidelity. Finally, BLU's wall-painted animations and TRIPL's train-writing sequences exemplify physical-digital convergence, transforming ephemeral urban interventions into digitally circulating artworks.

Key findings reveal animation's capacity to function as dynamic mediator of subcultural knowledge, transforming temporal, spatial, and archival registers into coherent narrative forms. However, a central preservation-decontextualization tension emerges, requiring balance between technical innovation and cultural authenticity. Anchored within the broader multidisciplinary doctoral research project ‘GraffiMotion. Designing Animation Strategies towards a Documentary on Graffiti Writing in Porto’, it fosters a contribution to the academic debate by proposing a framework that interconnects the territories between artistic practice and scientific methods.