Graffiti, Communication and Censorship in Kashmir

Amateur graffiti, expressing political aspirations, has emerged as a medium of free expression amid growing censorship of dissenting political voices in Kashmir. Since large-scale violent response by government during mass mobilization of people against State in 2010 summer, graffiti has emerged as a lexicon of young protesters. Drawn on the walls of pubic structures, graffiti is used by local populace to talk to State directly into the face by circumventing all means of censorship. Graffiti, demanding political rights, highlighting State violence on citizens, glorifying slain, resistance against State, is ubiquitous to both rural and urban landscape. Graffiti in Kashmir is an understudied subject with few scholarly readings available on it. This work explores the production of graffiti as a free carrier of public expression in an environment where sharp political views are censored not only by the government but also by media. These colorful profusions on walls cannot be dismissed as mere aesthetic drawings but their content and meaning need to be understood in the light of circumstances in which they come up. The significance of graffiti as a medium of free expression during censorship is central to this work.