5 Questions to...Sanja Ewald

21 January 2022

In our series, '5 Questions to…', members of CSMC chat about their background, current work, what motivates them – and about their favourite written artefacts. In this episode, we talk to Sanja Ewald, who is a PhD student at CSMC and an expert for a very special kind of written artefacts: graffiti.

Sanja Ewald, please tell us a little about yourself.

Subversive art practices in urban spaces have been one of my main interests since I studied cultural anthropology, art history, and German literature at Universität Hamburg. I completed my MA degree with a thesis on an art performance that aimed to make marginalised groups visible. After graduating, I worked as a research assistant in the university administration, dealing with the topic of equal opportunity. Eventually, I realised that I was more interested in doing research, though. I wanted to continue exploring artistic expressions that interact with cities, such as graffiti.

Could you briefly outline the topic of your dissertation project?

My project deals with the modern graffiti form of style writing. What’s special about these inscriptions is that they usually consist of only one name, like a signature in public space. My data comes from the archive of Mirko Reisser alias DAIM, who, besides being a famous artist in Hamburg’s graffiti scene since the 1980s, has also been a collector for decades. His archive consists of photos, books, and magazines as well as materials from the scene, such as sketchbooks or letters from artists’ correspondence. I have spent some time in his archive to get an overview of the collection as well as about the composition, the structure, and the history of the archive. It became clear how closely the archive, and the knowledge that is manifested and reproduced in it, is intertwined with the person of Mirko Reisser. In my project, I thus adopted a twofold focus: On the one hand, I examine the process of writing graffiti – from sketching to realisation, photographing, and eventually archiving. On the other hand, I investigate Reisser’s archive as a research object of its own, focusing on practices and strategies of archiving as well as systems of organisation.

Of course, I now walk through urban spaces with an analytically trained eye.

Were you already involved in the graffiti scene before starting your dissertation project? If not, how did you get into it and how has your work changed your perspective on this scene and the urban environment?

No, I was not involved in this scene before, and I am still not. I see myself as a researcher in a field that is very much characterised by internal codes. My aim as a researcher is not to become part of that scene, though. Through the intensive work in the small but very condensed archive and the conversations with Mirko Reisser, I am able to gradually understand and even partially decode graffiti. Of course, I now walk through urban spaces with an analytically trained eye. I enjoy identifying the originator or the crew behind a graffiti, recognising differences in the various personal styles, reading greetings or even threats or deciphering a date of origin, and thus to classify the graffiti in terms of time and urban history.

You are the Principal Investigator of your project, so you are your own boss and the responsibility is all yours. What needs to be considered in such a project and how do you plan it?

The biggest challenge of being your own PI is to embed your project idea within the research directions of the Cluster. Before I applied, I thoroughly engaged with the Cluster's overarching questions and aims to find out which research field would best fit my own interests. Based on this, I designed my application. I also had to create a suitable timetable, which I alone am responsible for realising. I am lucky that the archive I’m working with is in Hamburg, so I don't have to do a lot of traveling or budget planning. All these strategic and organisational decisions are part of being a PI and come with a lot of responsibility. Nonetheless, I have the support of my supervisor Professor Sabine Kienitz, who is also a member of CSMC, and who I consult on all these decisions. In addition, I really benefit from the cooperation and exchange with the colleagues in my research field and various other groups at CSMC. Above all, I am very grateful for the opportunity to be part of a Cluster of Excellence with my self-devised project.

Do you have a favourite written artefact? What is it, and what makes it so special to you?

I don’t have a favourite graffiti, but I do have a little story about a special graffiti, which also illustrates the central role photography plays in counteracting the ephemerality of graffiti. I was born in Hamburg around the time when graffiti really became a part of the Hanseatic City. Even as a little child, I loved looking at the colourful graffiti pictures that popped up all over the city. During my research, I actually rediscovered a photo of a graffiti that was sprayed right in front of my former children’s room. I told my father about it, and in our family album he even found a photo of me as a toddler, also showing a part of this graffiti. The graffiti no longer exists today, but the story and the photo make this graffiti a very personal one for me.