“We Have No Right to the City Center.” Young Graphic Artists in Public Space of Oaxaca (2006)

Abstract

There is a theoretical and empirical need to understand and explain the active role of young people in shaping and structuring the public space. Along the Oaxaca teachers' conflict against the government in 2006, that led to the formation of the Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca (APPO), youth participation was present. We can find them in two ways: first, through physical permanent occupation of the space; and second, through the symbolic and material appropriation of city walls in which they joined the popular protest using political graphics. In this way, young artists actively disputed the legitimacy of their presence in the public space.