Bonadio writes in a linked In post
Happy to share my new paper, “From Walls to Law: An Ethnographic Journey on Street Art, Graffiti and Copyright”.
Drawing on long-term fieldwork, interviews and participatory observation with street art and graffiti communities across several cities worldwide, the article explores how immersive, publicly engaged legal research can reshape copyright theory and practice. It shows how embedded legal expertise can both expose the gap between artists’ lived experiences and traditional copyright doctrine, and support artists in resisting exploitative appropriations of their work.?
The paper argues that a reciprocal, co-created research methodology can influence judicial reasoning, urban policy and teaching practice while advancing social justice in the regulation of urban creative expression. It also reflects on the ethical and practical challenges of working with subcultural communities that are often criminalised and deeply wary of institutional power.?
I hope this contribution will be of interest to colleagues working on copyright, cultural heritage, urban studies, socio-legal methods and public scholarship more broadly.?
Abstract
This paper traces an ethnographic journey from London’s streets to contemporary legal and policy debates, showing how immersive engagement with street art and graffiti communities can reshape understandings of copyright, public scholarship, and the role of legal academics. Drawing on long-term fieldwork, interviews, and participatory observation across several cities in the world, it documents how embedded legal expertise can both elucidate the gap between copyright theory and artists’ lived experiences and help artists resist exploitative appropriations of their work. The article argues that publicly engaged legal research, grounded in reciprocity and co-creation, can influence judicial reasoning, urban policy, and teaching practice while advancing social justice in the regulation of urban creative expression.
You can read the paper, which has been submitted to the European Intellectual Property Review, here: https://lnkd.in/gvs8GWPA
