This article analyzes space, the politics of protest and contemporary artistic practices in Yemen, using as a point of inflection the work by painter Murad Subay, who began the largest street art project ever undertaken in Yemen. The artistic campaigns initiated by Subay have radically and symbolically altered public space in Yemen’s city centers, turning walls into monuments devoted to fighting for causes and public murals into platforms for political awareness. Contextualizing these artistic practices, it provides an overview of art spaces in Yemen, describing the dynamics of Yemeni art worlds with the purpose of exploring how art centers and institutions have developed and operated, from the 1960s to the present day.
Yemen, street art, visual arts, protest politics.